I was genuinely caught off guard when I first heard the new Hinged single “Face Meet Concrete”. It comes out on September 25th and brings a really refreshing energy to the Liverpool music scene. The band manages to mix the weird guitar angles of Pavement with the catchy punk drive of a band like PUP. What I love most about it is the story behind the lyrics. The song is actually about a time the singer ran for a traffic light in the middle of the day and ended up tripping on a fence and completely ripping his jeans off. We have all had those completely avoidable and embarrassing moments.
Even with the funny background story, the music itself is seriously good. I spent a lot of time listening to the mix and noticing how well balanced everything is. You get this nice, wide instrumental sound where the dynamic balance is just right and absolutely nothing clips. By the time the track hits the bridge, the songwriting really opens up into something beautiful. I found myself hitting replay just to hear that section again. If I had to offer one piece of constructive feedback, I would notice the vocals start to get masked by the higher-energy instrumental parts around the forty-second mark. They get slightly buried in the mix, and utilizing some sidechain multi-band compression or EQ could help separate the vocals properly so they cut through without losing that heavy punk edge. Still, if you are into energetic punk that holds onto great pop hooks, you definitely need to check this out.
Written by Oluwaseun Adeyemi
