Wild Beasts “Two Dancers” (2009)
The write-up in the book didn’t really give me much to go on this time
around. The blurb was heavy on praise but light on descriptive musical
detail.
I quite liked the sound of it from the off. A kind of gentle rolling bass
and tom-tom drum rhythm with clean guitar and keyboards creating almost
ambient soundscapes. More prominent guitar parts pop up to contrast
this, seeming to move between percussive funk, and effects laden grooves
a la U2’s the Edge.
The vibe I got from the opening track “The Fun Powder Plot”
was of a kind of updated take on the Talking Heads, from the funky
guitar to the vocal delivery which was reminiscent of head Head David
Byrne. Elsewhere the wild falsetto vocals almost hint at Jeff
Buckley. Having two lead vocalists also gives the band a bit of
variety.
I liked this well enough, but I was starting to lose interest by the
end, which is surprising as it’s a fairly compact album, with 11 songs
and a runtime of just 40-odd minutes. While there was a definite
‘sound’ across the album, there was a bit of variety that should have
kept it from getting too staid. I guess their songwriting just doesn't
quite do it for me (almost but not quite).
