Smother - Wild Beasts (Album Review)

Wild Beasts - Smother
9/10

Introducing: 
Wild Beasts. They're defiantly different, and that'll be obvious as soon as you listen to them. The lead vocals are high-pitched and girly - something that at first can seem off-putting. They're a band that often people don't seem to 'get' on the first listen, but then click after hearing them a few more times, and if you listen with an open mind, then you'll be treated to songs that are at the same time beautiful, mysterious and brilliantly entertaining. 

The Album: 
Originally from the somewhat culturally comatose Cumbrian town of Kendal, Wild Beasts hopped over to Leeds in an effort to increase their exposure. My house lies almost exactly at the centre point between these two Northern settlements, but I’m glad lead singer Hayden Thorpe and crew didn’t stop off here on the way through. After a listen to Smother’s deeply – some would say sensual – perverted lyrics, you might expect a visit from Wild Beasts to result in exposure of another kind entirely.

Obviously, sexual references are rife in music nowadays, so the lyrics shouldn’t be altogether too shocking when pitted against some of the more vile offerings of ‘artists’ like Odd Future. If you think that’s a bit of a strong comparison to make, you only need to listen to Smother’s opening track, Lion’s Share – ‘I wait until you’re woozy, I won’t know until you’re limp, I take you in my mouth like a lion takes his game’ – to see that this is an album with its own share of darkness. The difference is, though, that this is also an album racked with guilt. It reverberates from Thorpe’s, and bassist Tom Flemming's melancholic swooping vocals. The relentless math-rock guitars, electronic percussion and striking piano loops, at times, make for an unsettling, but completely captivating, claustrophobia. The album imprisons you in a world of yearning regret until the group's own demons are vanquished.

If it all sounds a bit heavy, don’t worry, Wild Beasts will have you charmed. Bed Of Nails is a pure slice of 80’s pop. Toe-tappingly twinkling guitar lines provide a background for a catchy chorus. The delights of Wild Beasts is that they can surround such twisted lyrics, and what is admittedly a jarringly marmite voice, with such nuggets of what is essentially pop music.

Smother finishes with what is probably my track of the year so far: a sprawling and, ultimately, majestic ‘Sea Within A Sea’-style swansong that grows inside you, rewarding multiple listens - much like the rest of the album. 

Sounds like: Morrissey, Antony & The Johnsons, Foals

In November, Wild Beasts will be embarking on a UK tour. I should be catching them when they play at the Rescue Rooms in Nottingham on the 20th of that month. I suggest you do the same!