Wet Leg
moisturizer
We need to kick things off with a moment of honesty. Wet Leg were an instant hit at Phonotonal HQ with their debut. In fact, the first album was so good, we’ve been growing increasingly nervous as the new record has approached.
You see, the first album was quirky as much as it was melodic. It was small-island as much as it was catchy. Once you’ve done all these festivals and supported Harry Styles in stadiums, is it even possible to follow up on such an album?
The short answer is that Wet Leg have hit the bullseye, though a longer thought process is needed to unpack the art of their return. When they popped up with ‘Catch These Fists’, they slapped us with a highly stylistic performance, which they recreated faithfully on each of their TV spots. With Rhian Teasdale flexing muscle and glowering down the camera lens, they knocked us from the groove of pre-conception and made it possible to deliver new music to more open minds.
This preparation wasn’t needed because they’ve switched out their quirky sound; they still deliver the goods on a whole collection of great signature songs. We just needed the judder to dispel the fan-nerves accumulated during that long wait for a new record. Yes, the sound has evolved. This album has a bigger sound. It’s a little fuller and warmer. It’s definitely a Wet Leg record, though.
The singles are obviously solid awesome. ‘Catch These Fists’, ‘CPR’, and ‘Davina McCall’ give us flavours of the record. But just as the first album was back-to-back solid, this one also has it all. I really enjoyed the smooth ‘Pokemon’ and the stuttery rhythmic ‘Jennifer’s Body’, almost as much as I loved the fuzzy ‘Mangetout’ and ‘Pillow Talk’.
Like their first album, the singles just tickle the edges of the insipid UK singles charts, but the alternative charts on both sides of the pond have shown the new songs a lot of love. They’ve also shifted almost all the tickets for their UK moistourizer tour in November.
Moisturizer is the perfect follow up to their debut album. Go listen now.
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Written by Beck on
