Drummer Danny Benair, onetime mainstay of LA’s Quick and later in the Three O’Clock, was — between those two outfits — one-fourth of Choir Invisible, known as the Flyboys when they released the trebly EP which was Frontier’s first record. The band bears some resemblance to early U2 on Choir Invisible — credit the guitar work by Thames Sinclair (later half of a duo called Wonderwall) — but singer John Curry’s melodramatic voice doesn’t put the songs across convincingly. There’s variety and depth, but also some problems that need to be resolved.
Adding a keyboard player and switching drummers, Choir Invisible made the much-improved Sea to Shining Sea, adopting a lush dance-synth style that sounds very British. Feigning the same mid-Atlantic accent (but pruned of its excesses), Curry’s voice better suits this material, although he’s still not a great singer. Sinclair’s textures keep the midtempo tunes from dragging too much; he is a great guitar player. “I Walked Away,” with its surprising Association-like harmonies, is the best of the disc’s six offerings. There’s nothing essential here, but it’s more amusing than records by many likeminded outfits, and there are certainly enough of them.