First Frontier covers a lot of emotional territory on the single “Insist” from its forthcoming EP Just Matter (out March 18, 2022). Hailing from Birmingham, UK, First Frontier on this song sounds like a bit like an American indiepop band. The yearning tones of the guitar as the song begins may make you think you’re in for an indie rock song like many we’ve heard in recent years but it also has an unvarnished quality that feels more honest and earnest. And the lyrics tracing the contours of a relationship in which two people are intimately aware of their own shortcomings as articulated in poetic detail. The line “There’s a weakness in my head/More an enemy instead/And it takes me from the light/To the dark side/When I’m lonely in this bed/I see why some people let/Jagged whispers lead them straight to the wrong life” contains so much psychological insight, searing honesty and compassion it really makes the song a standout. But even when the song waxes more romantic it’s never, ever corny or hackneyed, it brims over with a heartbreaking poignancy that you don’t hear in nearly enough pop music and the spare instrumentation with the fragile male and female vocals giving the song a tender authenticity is hard to beat. Listen to “Insist” on Bandcamp and follow First Frontier at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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