Young Adult - castles

Young Adult

Castles
self-released; 2014

3.6 out of 5

By Ethan Skelton 

It all started in the skate parks of small town Kenosha, Wisconsin. Young Adult is a 3-piece indie sensation consisting of friends who met through their mutual love of skateboarding. After their first few jams they knew something special was about to bud. Within four months Castles was finished, all recorded on just a laptop. Following the release, college and line up changes faced the band with potential adversity, but Young Adult persevered and kept hard at work to maintain notoriety and fandom throughout the upper Midwest.

On the opener, "Hindsight", the guitar is mixed and set so fittingly it's immediately a win in my book. The distortion is coarse but lightly dusted like a manually salted pretzel - so good and yet you wonder if it's missing more or less. The drums pound with matching bass hits as the guitars hammer in the strokes. The chorus restates the opening riff and it's nothing short of head bopping bliss. The vocals are only around for the verse as they step back and let the refrain go undeterred. What a rare and great choice from these fine musicians. By now, one can associate the Young Adult sound pretty easily to the likes of Young The Giant and Death Cab for Cutie. 

The vocals and drive on "Get Out" are nothing out of the ordinary in that sense. I really enjoy the drum mix and the guitars have a lot of room to breathe and mingle. "We came, we saw, we left still unsatisfied," was the stand out lyric for me. Not what you would expect to follow such a commonplace saying. That's art in words and I look for it every time.

"2am" stands out in contrast to the rest of "Castles" as it is a sharp direction change into the realm of mood music. Things are still active and don't think the drums will let you fall asleep, but what a lulling, dreamy canvas of feeling and intention, mildly sedating and so pleasing to the mind. Vocally sweet and melodically nostalgic, you can't help but feel like searching for your old music box. But of course, this song seems to live in the now and the presence of the honest thoughts we have so late at night, when the world slows down and the hum of the day is muted. Perhaps it's a marriage of the two lives, juxtaposed as one being musically inspired while the other based upon content - the wandering successful, and the content child.

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