Released:
Rating:
A great record.
Label: Domino
Released: August 5th 2016
Rating: ★★★★
On first listen, Wild Beasts’ new effort ‘Boy King’ might not click, but soon it takes on a different light entirely. Opening with the smooth electro of ‘Big Cat’, the album weaves its way through what lyricist Hayden Thorpe describes as letting his “inner Byron” out. ‘Big Cat’’s refrain of “big cat top of the food chain” will loop its way around your head for days while ‘Tough Guy’ captures the feeling of male bravado almost perfectly through the way it sounds frail yet confident.
The album is filled with clever hooks such as in ‘Alpha Female’ (“Alpha female, I’ll be right behind you”) and ‘Eat Your Heart Out Adonis’ with its bass synth looping its way around the vocals masterfully.
There’s no specific high point on the album – it’s consistently good. In particular, the run from ‘Celestial Creatures’ through to ‘Eat Your Heart Out Adonis’ is sublime. ‘2BU’ sees bassist Tom Fleming take the mic over a Radiohead-esque rhythm topped off with glittering synths and is definitely one of the best songs on the album.
Finisher ‘Dreamliner’ starts stripped back before delivering a sampled choir in place of lead synths.
Overall, it’s a great record. Slightly lacking in places, but overall it’s consistent and at the end of the day, that’s what you need from a fifth album.Josh Williams
