Wild Beasts
Boy King
DOMINO
6/10
Occupying the musical space reserved for self-aware, literary British indie-pop bands, England’s Wild Beasts follow the well-trod path of many UK acts that can play 150 dates a year in Europe and get shortlisted for various important prizes, yet have a tough time cutting through the pornographic pop and macho dudeness of the American music landscape. Pulp and James, you know what we’re talking about.
Extremely well regarded in their native land where they evolved from (very nice) prep-school upstarts at their formation in 2002 to London-based hipsters, Wild Beasts tick all the boxes available to ambitious millennial aspirants: good-looking, sometimes-bearded frontman; falsetto vocals over synthy beats and melodies that nod to Depeche Mode; no shortage of earnestness. The fact that they’re not from Williamsburg probably surprises some of their European audiences.
As Wild Beasts release their fifth long-player, Boy King, we find them facing (rock band) middle age and most likely questioning their relevance. They needn’t worry; the new album is a corker, and it adds a new level of maturity and musicality to WB’s oeuvre. Sexy and raw (for the austere Insta generation of course, we’re a long way from Led Zeppelin sexy), Boy King turns the gain knobs to, if not eleven, then at least eight and a half to create a groovy guitar/synth noise over which lead warbler Hayden Thorpe weaves tales lustful and lyrical. “I’m letting my inner Byron fully out, I thought I’d tucked him away, but he came screaming back like the Incredible Hulk,” said Thorpe in a press release, by way, perhaps, of embracing having recently turned thirty and enjoying the process of growing into his skin.
Sex and power are the prominent subject matters of Boy King, and Thorpe puts every cliché in the book to work in their service—in a good way. Guitarist Tom Fleming seems to have an equally fun time letting loose with the distortion pedal. Maybe Wild Beasts’s new look at their libidos will help make them a bigger name in the States; it wouldn’t be the first time sex and art have come together.
