Just 13 months after the release of their acclaimed, if little heard, debut Limbo, Panto, north of England foursome Wild Beasts are back with album number two.
While their first effort tended to err on the side of the ridiculous, Two Dancers is cleverer and more balanced. You may have to look past a cringeworthy lyric here (“Oh unpluckable flower of the moon/Oh untetherable bird of the blue”) and a wavering vocal there (hear Fleming on ‘Two Dancers’), but the new material balances light and dark seamlessly. Contrast, for example, the lyrics “My boot, my boot, my boot, my boot in your asshole” on delicious oddball track ‘The Fun Powder Plot’ with the hypnotic turns and sweeps of ‘When I’m Sleepy’.
It’s true that frontman Hayden Thorpe’s singing is otherworldly, eerie even, (think Antony Hegarty meets Kate Bush) and can often be blamed for putting potential fans off. However, the vocals work beautifully on this record. ‘All The King’s Men’ conjures up an army of parading lusty lumberjacks, while ‘Underbelly’ evokes a mythical land of polluted magic.
What you have here is a mad scientist of an album and to totally succumb to cliché, you’re either going to love it or hate it. If you haven’t already guessed, I’m in the latter camp.