Wild Beasts – Smother album review
Oh hello! My name is Ecaterina. Currently, I’m enjoying the broke, post-university life in Calgary. I collect Polaroid cameras and I can teach you how to dougie. I aspire to befriend pigeons flying by my balcony. But most importantly, I live by a quote written by Hunter S. Thomspon, “Let us toast to animal pleasures, to escapism, to rain on the roof and instant coffee, to unemployment insurance and library cards, to absinthe and good-hearted landlords, to music and warm bodies and contraceptives... and to the "good life", whatever it is and wherever it happens to be.”
This is Wild Beast’s third album. This ten track masterpiece is already at number 17 on UK charts. So, for an indie rock band from Kendall, England, Wild Beasts are doing pretty well. Although Smother is a slower album than their previous work, Wild Beasts once again impress.
Wild Beasts are, simply put, unusual. I lack appropriate comparisons with similar sounding bands. The first track is surprisingly sentimental for a band called Wild Beasts. “Lion’s Share” is beautiful; it’s slow with a prominent piano melody and occasional howling. The vocals on the album are analogous to a wounded animal. It is a compliment, I swear. Somehow even when timid, they’re seemingly dangerous.
The single “Albatross” is tucked away as track number 7; a cross between a lullaby and an angry love letter…to an Albatross. As silly as it sounds, the track is soaked with feeling. “Burning” is another stand out song. With long musical pauses between each line of the lyrics, this track sets the mood of last words in a dying scene. All of the tracks are completely surreal.
The description of the band as art rock/dream pop could not be more accurate. The way this band pieces different musical instruments and sounds creates a collage of greatness. We live in the type of world where every three minutes, some douchebag forms an indie rock, lo-fi band some place. We are bombarded with sound daily. Wild Beasts have some unforgettable quality to them, which is a priceless commodity in today’s world of music.
The album as a whole goes down easy. The tracks on Smother don’t at all suit the name, although sometimes the details are so subtle it’s tempting to hold your breath to hear them better. All in all, listening to Wild Beasts is like listening to a lion purr. There is a wild element to the vocals and the melodies, but somehow they come out beautifully tamed. Even after you turn off the music, this band will somehow stay with you.
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