Wild Beasts - Smother

I picked this one up whilst I was browsing the shelves at the Bozar shop in Brussels. The shop assistant had put it on the speakers. Didn't know it. Never heard of the Wild Beasts. It appears to be a British band that has been making some waves over the last 3-4 years. Smother is their last album, issued just a few weeks ago. I haven't listened to it very carefully but it looks like a very good catch. Reminds me a little of Prefab Sprout, in its melodic invention and use of synths. The lead singer's falsetto also connects to Paddy McAloone's voice. The other association is with Muse's Matthew Bellamy. Wild Beasts have two front men, in fact: Hayden Thorpe (the falsetto, also on guitar) and Tom Fleming (a more husky voice, on bass). The latter at times sounds uncannily like Elbow's Guy Garvey (see the third track, Deeper).

What has particularly attracted me in these first few auditions is the finale, consisting of three tracks - Reach a Bit Further, Burning, End Come to Soon - which nicely fit together (also thematically, from a certain angle, if you consider the three titles in succession). The first is a fairly short and bubbly track propelled forward by an irresistible beat. Burning moves somewhat in ambient territory and makes the connection with Prefab Sprout quite obvious. The final track is a brilliant 7 minute epic (relatively speaking) that traverses different vistas (even some Dark Side of the Moon reminiscences) and evokes disquiet and anticipation. Goosepimples! It's all that pop music needs to be.

Finally, the album is excellently recorded (an exception with pop albums these days): it's genuinely dynamic and for once doesn't smother the richness of the voices and acoustic instruments involved.