You’d have thought I’d learned not to judge bands by their first albums. After all, two of my favourite groups, Blur and Radiohead, delivered mediocre debuts before going on to properly find their voices as artists. Still, following 2008’s Limbo Panto, I had decided that Kendal quartet Wild Beasts were a mildly interesting art rock outfit, nothing more.
All in all, then, I felt a bit foolish in 2009 – which, just to emphasise the lesson, was a year of great albums, with brilliant sophomore efforts also coming from Jack Penate and The Horrors – when the band produced a bona fide masterpiece in Two Dancers, a truly monumental piece of work that was a richly deserving winner of Hot Press’ Album of the Year. So, will the band consolidate the success of Two Dancers with the much-anticipated Smother?
It’s a pleasure to report that the answer is a resounding yes. Bar the addition of the occasionally other-worldly synth sound, Wild Beasts haven’t altered their approach hugely this time out, relying on the tried and trusted template of dream pop soundscapes, topped off with the splendidly contrasting vocals of Hayden Thorpe and Tom Fleming (the former, of course, singing in his trademark falsetto, the latter deploying his gravelly croon).
Smother opens with ‘Lion’s Share’, a piano ballad decorated with buzzing electro effects reminiscent of Fuck Buttons (an acknowledged influence on the record), the central refrain of which is the wonderful couplet “It’s a wonderful scare but that’s why the dark is there”. From there, the band work their way through an exquisite, ten-song suite of atmospheric dream pop, with each song distinguished by finely crafted details: the delicate harmonies on ‘Deeper’; the chiming guitars on ‘Loop The Loop’; the ethereal synths on ‘Plaything’.
Wild Beasts’ sound is so unique that they remain the hardest band in rock to pin down. You can hear a bit of the Cocteau Twins here, a touch of The Associates there, but really, trying to distill the essence of their baroque avant-pop is a fruitless exercise. Better just to savour the gorgeous tunes generated by a remarkably gifted group.