The past year has been stuck on pause. Before the pandemic, time travelled on a superhighway at a million miles an hour, but since March, we’ve all been in a traffic jam. There have been plenty of huge challenges in that standstill, but the break from a consistent surge of momentum has actually been good in some respects. It’s been a chance to reflect and recognize that we’ve all been fooling ourselves as we speed through life seeking somewhere new. ‘Fits and Starts’ is a song about making the concept of time meaningless so that it feels okay to keep holding that pause button.” David McMillin, Fort Frances
With clattering piano, Nile Rodgers-esque guitar chunks and a stomping horn section, the new Fort Frances single is a wake-up call for the information age. Atwood Magazine describes the song as “a lyrical journey of endless news cycles and social media feeds; of theoretically ‘massive’ stories that surrender to the next day’s trend overnight; of a deluge of push notifications, emails and texts.”
Fort Frances return after two years with the new single and lyric video for “Double Take,” the Fort Frances’ rallying cry and a perfect way to start 2019. The band’s first piece of new material following 2016’s third album Alio and a beachy follow-up single “Summertime,” “Double Take” finds Fort Frances returning to the fore in style with a resounding rejection (that’s right) of the sh*tstorm that’s come to be our daily lives.
“I have been writing these songs as the wheels of the world feel they are falling off,” says Fort Frances’ David McMillin “Double Take” is about stopping the car in the middle of the road to take another look around — to see beyond the headlines and look out to the horizon, to take some extra time and figure out a real direction forward. It’s taken more than two years to me feel like I’m actually capable of taking a breath and letting my brain disconnect from the cycle of did-you-hear-what-happened-now breaking news. Now that I have, I think we have the most complete and cohesive collection of songs Fort Frances has ever finished.”
Together with bandmates Jeff Piper, Aaron Kiser, and Jason Ryan, McMillin takes the audience on a journey of endless news cycles and social media feeds; of theoretically “massive” stories that surrender to the next day’s trend overnight; of a deluge of push notifications, emails and texts:
Taken from the EP “No One Needs to Know Our Name”,Chicago’s Fort Frances. The acclaimed trio features David McMillin on vocals, guitar, and piano, Jeff Piper on bass and vocals, and Aaron Kiser on drums and vocals. Fort Frances album’s “gorgeous songs,” and the band’s “warm, versatile, melodic sound.” In between the band’s last EP , David McMillin has also been working on his solo career. He’s an accomplished and acclaimed songwriter who had performed at the Kerrville Folk Festival and has been a finalist in the Telluride Troubadour competition. Fort Frances has made similarly with this new EP. The guitars are louder, the drums rock harder, and even as the arrangements are less “singer-songwritery” then their previous efforst, it’s McMillin’s excellent songwriting and lyrics that remain at the heart of this EP.
The Fat Angel Sings 