Equally as prolific as their Domino labelmates Arctic Monkeys, this is Wild Beasts second full-length effort in as many years.  And as was the case with 2008s Limbo, Panto critics are falling over themselves to apply superlatives to this sophomore release from the UK quartet. 

With good reason: in a word, it’s brilliant.  Singer Hayden Thorpe’s distinctive falsetto has definite tinges of Jeff Buckley and Antony Hegarty, but nonetheless manages to remain wholly unique as he crows, croons and caws through tracks of haunting, enigmatic grandeur.  His ephemeral delivery also contrasts nicely with the warm tonalities conjured by guitarist Ben Little and bass player Tom Fleming, who also handles lead vocal duties on several tracks.  The percussive, primal drumming keeps the songs grounded in spite of their dreamy, echo-laden sensibilities, and each singer has an impressive way with words.  On ‘All the King’s Men’ Fleming effortlessly shifts between registers as he details the band’s decidedly unusual courtship techniques: ‘We are the boys who’ll drape you in jewels/cut off your hair and throw out your shoes’.  And on lead single ‘Hooting & Howling’ Thorpe spouts out this warning to potential love rivals: ‘Anyone who goes for our girls will be left thumb-sucking in terror/bereft of coffin bearers’. 

On this powerful and affecting follow-up release, Wild Beasts have more than succeeded in their avowed aim to ‘re-imagine pop music’.   They have, in fact, gone a long way towards redefining the genre, and what it means to be a rock band in this age of prefabricated pop tat and success-hungry fly-by-nighters.   Mellow without being melancholic, idiosyncratic and endlessly inventive, this is far and away one of the most captivating releases of the last year.  When the two vocalists soar into the upper registers, as on stand-out track ‘We Still Got the Taste Dancin’ on Our Tongues’, it’s truly magical.  Just don’t get too close to their womenfolk.