Led by Seattle native Seth Micarelli, Night Wilds are a new band that shows deep personal growth and maturity with its debut album titled All That Should Have Been. It represents a journey of healing for lead singer Micarelli, who for years was searching for a form of healing from feelings he couldn’t escape from until he found spiritual healing, recovery and eventual sobriety. It is an album of healing.
“For my whole life, I have been searching for that magic pill to make everything feel better. This album is about making sense of that void,” says Micarelli. He goes on to explain further, saying “I wrote the album to get out the story that had been trapped inside for years. It’s a story for all those who have struggled to make sense of their inner world and need the help of stories. It told the story of a child made to perform, unsure of who he is or was, and the journey through that madness and to the other side. It walks through all the phases a human has to go through to emerge from these dark places. It begins with the setting of the helplessness and total reliance of a baby and moves to what sense a child makes of a world where its needs are not met, the burdens taken on and the weight of those mind made manacles.”
Set to be released in full in April of this year, All That Should Have Been was created as an epic rock opera, set in a circus and following a young boy forced to perform. With singles like “New Jerusalem,” “The Show,” “Confusion” and “Mother” already released, it’s a compilation of 17 songs in total on the album; presented in chapters. Chapters one and two are the spooky carnival setup where singer/songwriter Seth Micarelli takes on the persona of a demented ringleader and introduces the rest of the saga. It’s a musical circus of trauma and a rollercoaster of emotions that we can all relate to at some point in life.
The album follows the development of a child, one who is quite helpless with needs that haven’t yet been met. Fear, confusion and a search for self are all present. As with all children, the child eventually grows up and comes to terms with life as it is. This child has children of his own and continues to grow and heal. The album ends with the idea of accepting our most hated parts of ourselves and finding eventual peace within. Most dramatically, it commences with a haunting monologue by a character lashing out at various performers in his show and then focusing on one child for whom this is all overwhelming. All That Should Have Been is meant to be listened to from beginning to end so as to get the entire story the band is trying to tell.
The album has been called both theatrically entertaining and darkly cathartic. Melding autobiography with fantastical fiction, it’s a conceptual retrospective that blurs the line between entertainment and enlightenment. It’s personal for Micarelli, which is why he’s proud of the work and not concerned with how it’s received. “In writing this record, I wasn’t thinking how the album would be received, and no matter what happens, I am proud to have created a record that is truly authentic.” With that being said, so far the tracks are doing exceptionally well on Spotify and while it’s been a project of personal healing, Night Wilds and All That Should Have Been will have made a mark on the music scene and beyond by the time the whole album is released in April.
Images Courtesy of Independent Music Promotions
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