Local Review: Mended Hearts Club — Nobody’s Favorite

Mended Hearts Club
Nobody’s Favorite
Self-Released
Street: 10.31.2025
Mended Hearts Club = Jonathan Larson + Fish in a Birdcage

Here’s something that I don’t advertise much these days but I’m going to tell you all a little secret… 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’re going to want to make a Soundcloud account so you can follow this band.
If you’re like me you’d better set aside some time to lock in on Nobody’s Favorite. The album tells a story from start to finish with some brief intermissions to bash our capitalist society and the damage we’ve done to our planet over 11 songs — strap in. 

I think we’ve all gone through the phase of “I need to get the hell out of Utah,” only to think about where the grass would be greener. Track one, “This Town,” is probably going to hit you really hard if you’ve experienced the aforementioned feeling. It’s natural to want somewhere to belong, and our artists place the feeling best with “Home is where the heart is, but my heart’s been taken hostage.”
Next, “This Town” is an incredible beginning to this journey of love, loss, and self-acceptance. You’re going to want to get up and walk through the city while jamming out to some indie-pop gold.

“Price of Eggs” will leave you feeling a bit broken about the political and money-driven world we’ve found ourselves in while simultaneously tapping your foot and bobbing your head (the true definition of 2026, let’s be honest). We won’t 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?” is a lyric that sent shivers down my spine. These two songs build a prelude that sets the tone for this overarching album. The namesake song truly begins the album, “Nobody’s Favorite”. 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’s favorite, but I’m everyone’s friend, and I sure as hell could be somebody to love!

Moving into “Biochemistry”, a spoken word poetry song that reminds me of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton (2015). This is the meet-cute — the moment where our artist falls so deeply in love that the world will never be the same. “I see the world as a runaway kid, and I got the bus routes back” 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’ll probably think, “Maybe I should call them…”
(Disclaimer: SLUG Magazine releases all liability for you contacting your ex after listening to Nobody’s Favorite, by reading you waive your right to hold SLUG accountable for interactions with a former romantic partner).

“Ships and Planes” continues the love story. Feeling like the hallmark moment when the man realizes he could lose the girl — if he doesn’t profess his truth he’ll lose her for good. “I found a heart of gold, it’s heavy to hold some days” encapsulates what true love is about. We all want someone to “make the blue skies more blue,” it gives reason to those stormy days. Now for the bad news: that lovely sentiment is about to hit a snag in “Meet Me at Midnight”. Sometimes you have to try, fail, and hope you get another chance. “This romance isn’t happenstance, and if it’s alright, I’d like to hold your hand” gives “Say Something” by A Great Big World (a song that still brings me to tears) in all of the best ways.
We then see the aftermath in “Dangerous People”, with a somber tone that reveals how that meeting at midnight went. “Do-overs don’t come cheap, they don’t come at all” hits me hard. I have to give props to Mended Hearts Club because they’ve perfectly encapsulated a vast array of emotions and pain that would take a lifetime of relationships to know — all within one album. 

“Build A Road 2” is our next intermission. I don’t want to spoil this one for my activist friends, but I will say if you’re for saving the sea turtles, you’re going to dig nearly 6 minutes of commentary with a solid slam poetry mid-section.
Coming back into our story with “Just Fine” 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.

“Ugly Sweaters” 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 “Oh Tristan,” we see the growth, change, and rediscovery of one’s 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. 

Something’s going on that keeps bringing the movie Sing Street (2016) into my mind, and this album’s love story had me longing to watch it. Maybe I’m caught up on my own history with this one, but isn’t 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 “I listened to them before they were cool,” because this album came into my life at the perfect time, and I hope it does for you, too. —Damien Poelman

Check out more features from Damien Poelman:
Local Review: b.cola — There Must Be Others
The Lost and Found Utah Alphabet

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