WILD BEASTS don't sound the least bit like THE SMITHS. But in that beguiling combination of artful songwriter and musicianly guitar band they do take us back to an earlier peak of what indie bands could achieve. When mind, soul and musical nous are all switched on and connected something special is inevitable: and that's just what we have here. It's luxurious, it's personally affecting and there's really no one doing this stuff at the moment.
"Through Dark Night" has an undertow of skipping dance music and a main stream of falsetto ecstasy. It pours woe-drenched optimism over the bleakness of 2007s mean streets. It takes us into the childhood terrors of nighttime loneliness, and touches us with the yearning to surrender to someone powerful and protecting.
On B side ("Please, Sir"), a dangerous passion surges through the falsetto lead and reverberates in the tenor/alto trio of the chorus. The tune sways in an out of a waltz and there's a real charge of sexual longing. Impossibly, it stays alive with risk (and maybe disgust) while never going prurient or explicit. Shadows and suggestions have so much more power than the full frontal approach.
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With this very fine release, WILD BEASTS leap a few strides ahead of the rest of the young brood right now. This is their final single on Bad Sneakers. It's a label that seems to have cornered a disproportionate fraction of Leeds' most arresting new music this year. The future belongs to the now-irrepressible Domino, but if the BEASTS have more like this hidden in the bushes, there will be plenty for everyone. They just get better. While you wait, make sure you have a copy of the stylishly packaged and very collectable vinyl 7”. 2007 is turning into a very exciting year for rich and intelligent music.
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