Album Review: Miss Vincent - A Funeral For Youth

Southampton band Miss Vincent have released their debut album ‘A Funeral For Youth’.

Miss Vincent’s lead singer and front man Alex Marshall had this to share about the release of their debut album:

“It feels surreal to finally be releasing our debut album. Our band has had to come up the hard way, and there were so many times I wondered if this record would ever see the light of day. We wanted to create something that we’d be proud of forever, and we’ve done that; but the fight to stay true to the music we want to make has been testing. It feels so good that all that pushing forward has finally brought our album to the world.”

“This is the Miss Vincent we always wanted to be, and if the world doesn’t love us for who we are, then we’re cool with that”, Alex continues.

A slight vinyl crackle opens the gorgeous track ‘Gravity’. A great introduction to the band for anyone that haven’t heard them before. Alex Marshall’s perfect rock n’ roll vocals over huge chords before the even bigger chorus kicks off. This band know how to do a chorus with nearly all the tracks featuring festival loving sing along choruses, some that seem to never end.

Straight away you are immerse in the 50’s from the backing vocals and chords changes on ‘My Iron Heart’ the doo-wop of ‘Vials’ and the teenage love song that is ‘Rosaline’. Title track ‘A Funeral For Youth’ has a swing feel to the verses which the band manage to give so much breathing space as the notes are left to ring out.

The album isn’t all hey day rock n’ roll though, there is a heavier side with tracks like ‘Doctors & Churches’ with Marshall sounding particularly excellent. ‘Melanie’ picks the pace up with Marshall’s melodic singing making the track better because of it. ‘No One Knew’ and ‘Heresy’ both have a punkier feel to it standing out from the rest of the album with the beefier sounds.

Lawrie Pattison tasteful licks and solos colour the tracks and sprinkle some much needed magic on the intros for ‘In My Veins’ and ‘Go It Alone’ and his clever soloing on ‘The Lovers’ and ‘Melanie’. Regardless of how good the front men are though, a band is made by the guys in the back. Nate Davenport’s drums on ‘Carried Away’ makes the track and he keeps a lot of these tracks driving along with his addictive beat pounding along with Owain Mainwaring’s bass playing.

Final track ‘Shiver’ has a farewell feel with the intro, as if the band don’t want the album to finish, and nor do we. There’s a great confidence thats uplifting and infectious in this album which is impressive considering it’s the band’s debut full length. The 50’s inspiration is hard to ignore and it’s something the guys wear proudly and rightly so. The guys have written some fantastic tracks here that you can’t help but fall in love with. Helped by the simple clear production, punchy guitars from Marshal and Pattinson and the solid back bone courtesy of Mainwaring and Davenport who both keep things driving along. The icing has to be Marshall’s superb vocal skills, in particular the melodic way of singing and his phrasing he deploys. Pattison’s must have a great time working with a singer such as Marshall, as they both make these tracks special.

Check out the track Rosaline, below: