Not many records last year had as much buzz as the self titled debut from Wet Leg - and the others that did hardly delivered like this instant masterpiece.
The now infamous story goes that the Isle of Wight based duo of Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers decided to start a band as they sat atop a Ferris Wheel. While that decision may sound impulsive, it certainly paid off, however Wet Leg is a collection of razor-sharp jams that sounds anything but thrown together.
“Chaise Longue,” the album’s first single is a tectonic world shaker, spoken verses with lines like “Is your muffin buttered?/Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?” That immediately segue into rave up guitars. The hook “On the chaise longue, on the chaise longue, on the chaise longue/All day long, on the chaise longue” will drill into your skull and simply won’t leave.
That’s just one song. “Wet Dream” - a song you really don’t have to use your imagination to get what it it’s about - has a propulsive beat, stringy guitars and a refrain proposing watching the film Buffalo ’66 on DVD. There’s so many of these. “I Don’t Want to Go Out” borrows some Pixies-esque background vocals and maybe lifts the riff from David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World”.
On “Too Late Now”, things slow down a bit as the band turns inward: “Everything is going wrong/I think I changed my mind again/I just need a bubble bath/To set me on a higher path”.
All of this amounts to Wet Leg being pure fun. It’s an exciting record from a band that literally came out of nowhere. Wet Leg have said they’ve already completed their second record - and if it came from the sort of inspired sessions as their first, there’s no doubt that it will be a joy to dig into.
- Brendan Hilliard, Obviate Media
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