Wild Beasts - Present Tense

Wild Beasts
Present Tense
24 February 2014
Domino

4 stars out of 5

 

“Don’t confuse me for someone that gives a fuck,” sings Hayden Thorpe on “Wanderlust,” the first single and opening track on Wild Beasts’s fourth LP, Present Tense, their first since 2011. The record is packed full of beautiful laments, sad dirges, and a deep sense that Thorpe does in fact give several fucks—perhaps not about you and your expectations, but definitely about the music he and his fauvist friends present on Present Tense.

After a weak start, the album begins to gain momentum with the third track, “Mecca,” a stylish new wave ode to emotional nostalgia: “All we want is to feel that feeling again.” The next track, “Sweet Spot,” sees the album getting stronger still, moving closer to the center of the lush New Romantic rainforest that Wild Beasts explored so thoroughly on their previous LPs. “Pregnant Pause” is a tensely shimmering song that worms its way under your skin to linger and grow. “A Simple Beautiful Truth” is classic New Romantic material, blending pop with post-punk into what is likely the most accessible and radio-friendly track on the album. After passing (definitely not unscathed) through the dark tunnels of “Past Perfect” and “New Life,” the album closes with the elegant “Palace,” a dignified, chin-high, deliberately slow walk through the gauntlet of critics, letting them know where they can shove it.

More subtle than their deadly Two Dancers, this record creeps up on you and gets in a few low blows before you even realize you’re under attack. It could easily have been titled Present Tension because of how well it builds and sustains the foreboding and the despair. Don’t let the New Romantic synths and postures fool you: this is some heavy-hitting emotional music, not suitable for casual background listening. You might need a box of tissues and/or a psychiatrist after this one.

reviewed by Richard Krueger