Already three albums deep into their
relatively short 6-year recording career, Wild Beasts release their latest
venture, Present Tense, which ushers
in a more contemporary style unlike anything they’ve experimented with before. Sonically,
there’s no doubt that this is a Wild Beasts album, except one with an edge.
There are pulsing synths, killer musicianship, and highly thought provoking,
meaningful lyrics. However, like its title, Present Tense suggests they’ve decidedly left the past in the past
and have more forward thinking topics to discuss in the lyrical content of
their songs.
This new train of thought is first seen in
the lead single “Wanderlust,” an upfront track that dives deep into the
materialistic nature of humans with breezy murmurs of “We're decadent beyond our means, with a zeal.
We feel the things they’ll never feel.” By stripping down the ever common
electronic elements and simply leaving a light synth-focused instrumental along
with the vocals, the song stands on its own and makes a more than appropriate
pick for the band’s lead single. All the way through to the last song “Palace,”
a genuine sincerity can be seen in the lyrical content, especially in the way
lead vocalist Hayden Thorpe describes the need to forget striving for
perfection and start accepting yourself for what your are, so that you can turn
your house into a so called palace.
Strangely enough, it turns out that the band channeled more than just the blatantly obvious
messages in modern society while compiling their latest album. Such is the case
in “A Dog’s Life,” a depiction of the final moments of life for a faithful
canine through the mellowed down rhythmic choices and piercing guitar strokes. The
band also has their own full-blown experimental pop moment within Present Tense in the song “A Simple
Beautiful Truth,” which doubles as a vehicle for relaying their message
that “There’s a beauty out there. You
just gotta know where.”
Chiseled inside
the rest of the album are some purely fascinating gems: “Nature Boy,” has a
strong vocal demonstration by other band member Tom Fleming on this WWE
wrestling inspired track, “Sweet Spot” entices listeners with its dual guitar
plucks and hypnotizing beats although the dark subject matter of euthanasia is riddled
in the lyrics, and ending these gems with a strong conviction is “Mecca,” a
thoroughly energetic song dancing around the words of “We move n feel, we move
and desire.”
Present Tense is an album more or less centered around its
lyrics rather than instrumental composition. However, both come across
stronger than ever in many of the songs on this album, whereas it also falters
on a few tracks like “Pregnant Pause” and “Daughters.” The grim lyrics may
startle listeners at first, but the band’s artistic creativity shines through
the songs and its nice to see some people attacking the issues head on instead
of pushing them to the side and singing rhythmically pleasing, generic trash.
Grade: A-
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