Defiance, Ohio – Midwestern Minutes

Columbus, Ohio sextet Defiance, Ohio were one of those bands that I’ve always heard a lot about but never actually heard anything by them. Their name was always passed around from friend to friend due to their constant touring schedule, do-it-yourself ethics and supposedly energetic live show and sound. Despite the high praised I heard about them, I never got around to actually listening to them – that was until I heard their newest album Midwestern Minutes. And, suffice to say, I was completely hooked within mere minutes of hearing the album.

There was a sense of joyful jubilation in the low-fi folk punk. It flowed beautifully with the addition of a soothing string section and the layered vocals broke through with sincere and oddly deep lyrics that deserve to be examined but at the same time makes you want sing along without a second thought.

In all honesty, in the two weeks I’ve had this album it’s climbed to become one of the best records of the year in my opinion and I’m sure I’ll be talking about it again come year’s end. There’s something beautifully sincere, honest and instantly relatable in their music. The vocals aren’t always the strongest – I doubt they’d fit with most styles of music – but they fit perfectly with the eclectic, traditional instrumentation and I couldn’t imagine any other type of vocals matching the folk-punk instrumentation that ebbs and flows with cellos, violins, banjos, and upright basses coming in and out at key intervals.

When they add in the layered vocals – like the female vocals perfectly backing up the first set of pipes on A Lot To Do – they become even more alluring. Before you know it, you’re singing along with the rousing choruses – where all six members sing – of songs like The White Shore, Her Majesty’s Midwestern Islands and Dissimilarity Index. When you take the time to actually read the lyrics – and the occasional story behind them – Defiance, Ohio once again begins to wow you – like The Reason which sings of people who pass away when you least expect it or Hairpool, a song that successfully paints and image of the beauty of a small town. The songs have a mixture of personal introspection and political ponderings (The White Sore and Dissimilarity Index – two of the highlights of the album – both deal with some serious topics) that help keep the album fresh through its entire running time.

Midwestern Minutes is a superbly executed folk-punk album built on confidence and individuality. They carry the folk-punk moniker but push the boundaries of it, creating an album that shares a sense of community that is unparalleled in any recording in recent memory.

After listening to the record close to fifty times, I’m still not remotely close to being bored with it; and that, my friends, is the mark of a great album.