Send "Wild Beasts " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 In a day where Hot Topic peddles guyliner to millions of male teenage mallrats, it's hard to imagine a time when glam-rock was truly shocking. But there remains one gender-bending device whose provocative, polarizing power remains undiminished: the falsetto-- a sound that tends to elicit both laughter and skepticism, if not outright hostility. Still, it remains a highly effective weapon in the endless war against safe, overly earnest indie-- and few bands brandish it so wantonly as Leeds art-pop quartet Wild Beasts.On the band's striking 2008 debut, Limbo, Panto, frontman Hayden Thorpe unleashed his shrill, glass-shattering shrieks as a means to project both the vulnerability and depravity of his sexually frustrated protagonists, and he didn't care if he went hoarse in the process (you can practically hear his vocal cords disintegrate on the galloping single "Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants"). Perhaps as a means to avoid chronic laryngitis, on follow-up Two Dancers he's deferring more frequently to bassist Tom Fleming, a deeper-voiced foil in the Nick Cave crooner mold. But that's just a surface indication of the transformation Wild Beasts have undergone in the past year-- in contrast to the first album's fidgety, impulsive baroque'n'roll, Two Dancers sees Wild Beasts refashioned as a steely art-funk outfit that's no less alluring in its austerity....full text |
| Contactmusic |
| Review of Wild Beasts album Two Dancers released through Domino Records. From the first few notes of early single 'Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants', it was always plain to see that Leeds-via-Kendal four piece Wild Beasts were anything but your average runoff-the-mill trad indie-rock band. From Hayden Thorpe's dazzling falsetto to the simple yet effective musical accompaniments that recall such eighties paradigms as U2 and The Smiths in their heyday, Wild Beasts have often fallen into that Marmite category; you'll either love them or hate them. At times, 2008's debut long player 'Limbo Panto' for all its ambitious qualities found itself all too often smothered by its own eccentricity, occasionally forsaking tune for want of trying to sound too unique, out there on a limb and a prayer for sure and genre-wise non-definitive yet painstakingly almost too damn clever and audacious for its own good. Nevertheless, the potential was always evident, and even if it took another five years and two records, only the most foolhardy of souls could deny that Wild Beasts had it in them to create an album of astounding, breathtaking quality. That we only had to wait another twelve months is something of an achievement in itself. 'Two Dancers', you see, isn't just a giant leap forward from 'Limbo Panto' and its whimsical oddities, it quite simply sets the benchmark not only for the rest of 2009, but for any artists in years to come, particularly those that like to toss the words "original" and "groundbreaking" about in some self-referencing posture with gleeful abandon....full text |
| Clashmusic |
| Wild Beasts’ debut album of 2008, ‘Limbo, Panto’, was fascinating. Initially dismissed by this writer after a couple of lazy listens, it seemed absurd of vocal and limited of compositional scope. What an idiot. Several plays later it proved to be one of the year’s best: dazzlingly original of design and ambitious of artistry, yet possessing pop hooks mighty enough to dig deep into the mainstream. Despite the brilliance of singles ‘The Devil’s Crayon’ and ‘Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants’, the Kendal-formed four-piece struggled to attract the audiences they deserved, and ‘Limbo, Panto’ – while celebrated critically – hardly flew off the shelves. But creativity isn’t reliant on commercial successes, as this second album is a testament to: a considerable progression from its predecessor, ‘Two Dancers’ is an instantly engaging delight of a long-player, uniquely idiosyncratic but never allowing its singular stylistic traits to become unsettlingly overbearing. A true balance between accessibility and experimentation is achieved with beguiling elegance....full text |
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