Magic Wands - Magic Love & Dreams EP

The Wild Beasts ‘Two Dancers’

 

Sometimes when a new voice comes into pop music the first reaction is one of horror. From Elvis Presley to Mark E Smith to Billy MacKenzie,  Green Garside to Antony Hegarty. The unbridled raw sound of a new vocal instrument can take some getting used to. So when I first heard the Wild Beasts I thought it was some kind of joke. Some kids tone deaf idea of what Russel Mael of Sparks sounded like. The music was also irritating  - a cross between Orange Juice and some cabaret act. But on their first album there were certain moments when you thought that this crazy idea could just work. And lo and behold on this their second album ‘Two Dancers’ with just a bit of restraint and the voice reigned in a bit we have one of the finest albums produced by an English guitar group for some time.

 

It’s a lovely slow burning treat. The Wild Beasts new songs don’t blast you over the head with hooks and choruses but they solely sidle up to you, nudge you in the ribs and announce their presence. The musicianship is wonderful, guitars are set to spectral but due to the tight playing and the ever so lop sided pop structures they never become clichéd. It’s a cross between The Associates nervy, wired early 80’s experiments with The Chills gorgeous brooding songs such as ‘Pink Frost’ and even bits of Can circa ‘Future Days’ in the way the rhythm section creates a groove for the other instruments to play around.  It proves that even the most madcap ideas if brought in a little bit from the left field can produce something genuinely effective and affecting as well as something which with a little bit of time many people (if not everybody) will like.

 

And therein I guess lies the problem. Why invest time into a band which you may not like or quite get at first when you could have something immediate that satisfies on first listen?  I’ll leave that to the listener but just remember that the bands that are now being talked about as seminal from many years ago are often those ignored at the time.  The album is also a victory for the album format over single tracks and mp3’s.  The songs don’t particularly stand out individually but the whole is much better than the sum of its parts. I hope that other people will listen to this album with fresh ears because The Wild Beasts have certainly won me over and I would say that this is pretty much my album of the year so far.

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