Wednesday, 2 April 2014

Now Playing: Wild Beats - Present Tense

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When Wild Beasts play they conjure up a vision of a bawdy Midsummer Night’s Dream. Their music sounds like a prayer to Dionysus; a frenzied Pagan ritual. Their lyrics evoke humanity’s basest emotions – fear, desire, and lust. A sense of “otherness,” entirely dissimilar to anything you may hear elsewhere, pervades much of their music.

There is a primitive hunger in songs like Wanderlust, the lead single from their latest album Present Tense: “Now that you belong to me/ I’ll tell you how I want to feel…” The percussion is both propulsive and jarring, driving the song yet also providing a slight discordant unease, imbuing it with a slightly unsettling air.

Vocal harmonising, although still present, has given way to more synth arrangements. However, the songs are no less intricate than their previous albums and standouts such as Mecca, Pregnant Pause and Daughters are each underscored by a murky bass, shrouding harmonies in earthy, atmospheric tones.


In short: this is very good.



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