To many listeners, when the mention of a new Seattle band is on, they might think a new grunge sensation (or not) is upon them. Yet, nothing could be more far removed from grunge than Seattle’s Night Wilds have come up with on their new (debut) album All That Should Have Been, unless you take into account that at moments, they can get very loud.
Actually, Seth Micarelli and his crew, seem to take the path of the likes of Tom Waits, and Scott Walker when inspired by Kurt Weill with both experimental touches and loud guitars thrown in for good measure throughout.
In a way, Night Wilds present their music here in the now-forgotten (and often much-maligned) form of a rock opera set in a circus and following a young boy forced to perform. Deconstructing faith and building it again – leaving a fundamentalist religion and finding the courage to set out on your own path is a core running theme.
When all this is put to paper, it could have amounted to a definite recipe for disaster. Yet, somehow, Micarelli and his band miraculously navigate through their ‘theatrical’ mixture with ease and purpose that sounds like their fifth or sixth, not their debut album.
An excellent, quite promising introduction from a band to watch.
