Here\u2019s something that I don\u2019t advertise much these days but I\u2019m going to tell you all a little secret\u2026 I was a theatre nerd in high school. Mended Hearts Club dropped their debut last year, and this folksy energetic album hits a certain spot in my theatre kid heart. If you like love songs, heartbreak songs, a touch of humor, and political commentary, you\u2019re going to want to make a Soundcloud account so you can follow this band. <\/span> I think we\u2019ve all gone through the phase of \u201cI need to get the hell out of Utah,\u201d only to think about where the grass would be greener. Track one, \u201cThis Town,\u201d is probably going to hit you really hard if you\u2019ve experienced the aforementioned feeling. It\u2019s natural to want somewhere to belong, and our artists place the feeling best with \u201cHome is where the heart is, but my heart\u2019s been taken hostage.\u201d <\/span> \u201cShips and Planes\u201d continues the love story. Feeling like the hallmark moment when the man realizes he could lose the girl \u2014 if he doesn\u2019t profess his truth he\u2019ll lose her for good. \u201cI found a heart of gold, it\u2019s heavy to hold some days\u201d encapsulates what true love is about. We all want someone to \u201cmake the blue skies more blue,\u201d it gives reason to those stormy days. Now for the bad news: that lovely sentiment is about to hit a snag in \u201cMeet Me at Midnight\u201d. Sometimes you have to try, fail, and hope you get another chance. \u201cThis romance isn\u2019t happenstance, and if it\u2019s alright, I\u2019d like to hold your hand\u201d gives \u201cSay Something\u201d by <\/span>A Great Big World<\/strong><\/a> (a song that still brings me to tears) in all of the best ways. <\/span> \u201cBuild A Road 2\u201d is our next intermission. I don\u2019t want to spoil this one for my activist friends, but I will say if you\u2019re for saving the sea turtles, you\u2019re going to dig nearly 6 minutes of commentary with a solid slam poetry mid-section. <\/span> Something\u2019s going on that keeps bringing the movie <\/span>Sing Street<\/a> (2016)<\/span><\/i> into my mind, and this album\u2019s love story had me longing to watch it. Maybe I\u2019m caught up on my own history with this one, but isn\u2019t that what a great album is all about? A time machine to a feeling you felt in your youth that you strive to feel again? I encourage you to jump on the Mended Hearts Club train so you can say \u201cI listened to them before they were cool,\u201d because this album came into my life at the perfect time, and I hope it does for you, too. \u2014<\/span>Damien Poelman<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>If you\u2019re like me you’d better set aside some time to lock in on <\/span>Nobody\u2019s Favorite<\/span><\/i>. The album tells a story from start to finish with some brief intermissions to bash our capitalist society and the damage we\u2019ve done to our planet over 11 songs \u2014 strap in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>Next, \u201cThis Town\u201d is an incredible beginning to this journey of love, loss, and self-acceptance. You\u2019re going to want to get up and walk through the city while jamming out to some indie-pop gold. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cPrice of Eggs\u201d will leave you feeling a bit broken about the political and money-driven world we\u2019ve found ourselves in while simultaneously tapping your foot and bobbing your head (the true definition of 2026, let\u2019s be honest). We won\u2019t get into what I think about a potential oncoming apocalypse, but “Billionaires set the price of eggs, are we living in the end of days?\u201d is a lyric that sent shivers down my spine. These two songs build a prelude that sets the tone for this overarching album. <\/span>The namesake song truly begins the album, \u201cNobody\u2019s Favorite\u201d. Bringing twangy and upbeat instrumentals, I loved that each self-deprecating comment is immediately followed by an acknowledgement of the artist’s identity. Sure, I may not be anybody\u2019s favorite, but I\u2019m everyone\u2019s friend, and I sure as hell could be somebody to love!
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Moving into \u201cBiochemistry\u201d, a spoken word poetry song that reminds me of <\/span>Lin-Manuel Miranda<\/b><\/a>\u2019s <\/span>Hamilton<\/a> (2015)<\/span><\/i>. This is the meet-cute \u2014 the moment where our artist falls so deeply in love that the world will never be the same. \u201cI see the world as a runaway kid, and I got the bus routes back\u201d is a lyric that reminds me of a date; sitting on the lawn of the Capitol building as the cherry blossoms are coming in, painting watercolor scenes on mini-canvas. At this point of the album you\u2019ll probably think, \u201cMaybe I should call them\u2026\u201d <\/span>
\n<\/span>(Disclaimer: <\/span>SLUG Magazine<\/span><\/i> releases all liability for you contacting your ex after listening to <\/span>Nobody\u2019s Favorite<\/span><\/i>, by reading you waive your right to hold <\/span>SLUG<\/span><\/i> accountable for interactions with a former romantic partner).<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>We then see the aftermath in \u201cDangerous People\u201d, with a somber tone that reveals how that meeting at midnight went. \u201cDo-overs don\u2019t come cheap, they don\u2019t come at all\u201d hits me hard. I have to give props to Mended Hearts Club because they\u2019ve perfectly encapsulated a vast array of emotions and pain that would take a lifetime of relationships to know \u2014 all within one album.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>Coming back into our story with \u201cJust Fine\u201d is the post-breakup reflection that we all face after having our world rocked. This is followed by searching for the self-acceptance that you strive for after things end. The chorus hit me especially hard and ties well into track one of the album. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cUgly Sweaters\u201d follows the post-breakup trend, but focuses more on the stage where you see the beauty in what was, while accepting pain that came through, grief is subsiding, but having the lost-love headspace. Closing the album on \u201cOh Tristan,\u201d we see the growth, change, and rediscovery of one\u2019s own identity after a relationship that became their world. Breakups really show us that hindsight is 20\/20, and this address to an old friend after things fell apart really shows it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n