It's less than a year since Wild Beasts were pipped to the Mercury prize by the xx, but the Kendal band are already back with a new album, Smother. And it seems the relative success of their last LP, Two Dancers, hasn't had a detrimental effect on their sound.
If anything, the band's third album further explores desire, sex and mindless brutality, themes that underpin an otherwise gentle and immaculately arranged record. But Smother offers a more emotional response to lust and longing than its predecessor; Reach a Bit Further, for instance, is a call-and-response track in which singers Hayden Thorpe and Tom Fleming offer each other assurance: "Yes I will do anything that you ask of me." Elsewhere the subtly ebullient Bed of Nails sees Thorpe listing the sacrifices he'll make for his lover whereas Plaything, in which the singer demands they "take off that chemise", is the closest the band get towards wanton fervour.
Smother allows each band member to shine; Ben Little's opaque, dextrous guitar and Chris Talbot's textural, ambient drumming are as prominent as Thorpe and Fleming. It shows the band have confidence in each other, and so they should. While Smother sounds both ambitious and restrained, its overarching quality is of a continually interesting band making rich, engaging music sound effortless.
Smother is out on 9 May through Domino Records. Wild Beasts will be interviewed in this Friday's Film&Music
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