Album Review: Concrete Castles - 'Wish I Missed U'

 

The wait is finally over. Alternative rock band Concrete Castles, consisting of guitarist Matt Yost, drummer Sam Gilman, and vocalist Audra Miller, have released their vital debut album, Wish I Missed U, for the world to hear. Wish I Missed U is an album bursting with vibrant, youthful energy. The hooky melodies and anthemic choruses make every song on the album memorable. The album’s unique sound, blending elements of pop, electronic, and rock, along with the band’s talent makes Concrete Castles stand out amongst other artists. 

Wish I Missed U begins with its title track. Matt leads the way on guitar, followed by Audra on vocals. The album intro takes its time and doesn’t rush the listener. At the chorus, the song bursts into action  The rhythm is held by the drums and guitar, with the vocals being the main melody. Another aspect of what makes this such a great song is Anthony Green’s feature on the track. Anthony and Audra have a similar sounding vocal style, which makes their vocals blend well. Audra’s harmonies over Anthony in the second pre-chorus are subtle, but add a real harmonic depth, and anticipate the changes in the next chorus. The vocals also incorporate some call and response in the second pre-chorus. Underneath the vocals, the band builds things up, introducing some electronic synth sounds. The addition of the synths in the second chorus really makes it come to life. After the second chorus, everything drops out, apart from Audra and the bass. It’s at this point that we hear what an amazing vocalist Audra is. Matt enters with guitar chugging before the band explodes into the final chorus. Matt also plays an awesome guitar melody at the end of the chorus. The track breaks down to guitar for the outro, which echoes into silence to end the track. Sam begins the second track, ‘Hidden Faces’, though his drums are heavily filtered. The drums are joined by swelling synth sounds, which build and swell, before dropping out completely, leaving Matt on rhythm guitar, and Audra singing over top. The band explodes into the chorus, highlighted by the chanting of “hey, hey, the hidden faces”. The second verse has a more defined rhythm with the addition of the drums. Matt plays alone in the bridge, before being joined by Audra. The song ends by returning to the chorus, and we hear an awesome vocal piece by Audra before the track ends. Next up is ‘Just A Friend’, the album's first single, and the debut Concrete Castles single. This song is really good at capturing people's attention. It’s probably the biggest strength of ‘Just A Friend’ and explains why it was their debut single. This is followed by another single, ‘Porcelain’. The drums and guitar hold back in the verses, before exploding in the chorus. This song has constant movement between levels of intensity. Audra shows awesome vocal range in the second part of the chorus. Matt plays long, echoing guitar notes in the bridge, while Audra sings the repeating line “I’m not expecting you to go”, before a thunderous drum build-up into the final chorus. Something that CC has really nailed on this album is anthemic choruses. This makes their songs really memorable and makes them a really noticeable band (and just a really good band in general) that is easily and rapidly gaining a following.

‘Holding On’ has a really creative drum beat, and awesome double-tracked, overlapping vocals in the chorus. This leads us into ‘Half Awake’, Concrete Castle’s second-ever release, and one of my favorites on the album. This song is upbeat and energetic and shows a real diversity in the band’s sound. ‘Half Awake’ takes things in a heavier direction, and is almost certain to go off like an atomic bomb when played live. Like its predecessor, ‘Atmosphere’ is packed with relentless energy, emphasized by the chorus’ off-beat accents. The bridge section features a heavy, groovy section played by the drums and guitar. After this, the track briefly breaks down and goes instrumental before the final chorus. The drumming is definitely a stand-out aspect of this song. Next we hear the delicate guitar intro of ‘Suburbia’, A song about rebellion, and rejection of the ‘normal’ and basic suburban lifestyle. The vocal harmonies in the chorus are super creative. This song carries a crucial message that perfection is unimportant. There are cool vocal harmonies in the last chorus, and in the outro, before returning to the guitar motif that opened the song, which fades out into silence.  

Track 9 is ‘Thrill’, a throwback to the first song the band wrote, under their other name, First To Eleven. The song was re-recorded and released under Concrete Castles. The vocal melody that opens and closes the song sets the mood perfectly. To me, this song shows the band coming full circle, and also represents the band growing and transitioning into adulthood. ‘Thrill’ has a really youthful nature, and perfectly captures the joy and invincible feeling of being young. Not to mention the fact that the song inspired their band name!

‘Say It’ is another of my personal faves. The intro builds up to an exhilarating drop. This song has a faster tempo than most of the other songs on the album and a really vibrant lively nature. I really like the vocal arrangement in the verse, and, in general, ‘Say It’ just puts me in an overall joyful mood. This brings us to the final track on the album, ‘Mess’. This song begins with another awesome guitar motif. The guitar part changes to a strumming part in the first chorus, before returning to the original motif. The drums enter midway through the second verse, and the whole track begins to swell before blasting into the driving, energetic chorus. It’s great to hear a return to the awesome heavy side of the band in the chorus and bridge of the song. ‘Mess’ is a really good overview of what Concrete Castles are capable of as a band, incorporating all aspects of their awesome, unique original sound.

Much like Against The Current and Imagine Dragons, Concrete Castles began honing their musical skills as a cover band called First To Eleven. This meant that they had a lot of writing practice from arranging existing cover songs. They also released the original song ‘Thrill’ under First To Eleven in 2018. The band has been writing Wish I Missed U behind the scenes for the last 3 years, without knowing whether the music would ever be released. Over the last year, Concrete Castles were able to sign a record deal with Velocity Records and make this album a reality.

Concrete Castles have made a ferocious debut with Wish I Missed U. They have wonderfully shown the world what they have to offer, and will no doubt continue to develop their sound and grow their fanbase. They have shown the passion and love they have for the music they make. The world is their oyster, and they are ready to take it on.