Wet Leg
moisturizer
***and1/2 out of *****
The Isle of Wight based rock act Wet Leg released their debut self titled album in 2022 to great acclaim, wining GRAMMY Awards, billboard success and critical praises. Their follow-up, moisturizer, continues down their catchy rock path with some added musical muscle, improving the groups overall sound.
Once again Hester Chambers and Rhian Teasdale worked with producer Dan Carey (Foals, Fontaines D.C.) but this go around guitarist Josh Mobaraki, bass guitarist Ellis Durand and drummer Henry Holmes were brought on as full contributing members of Wet Leg. This more inclusive formation adds depth, crunch, groove and power to the pairs catchy, quirky tunes.
The fuller sound hits the listener immediately as the crunchy riffs and siren laden synths pump up the dance rock of "CPR". The stronger sounds only amp up Teasdale and Chamber's tunes, Teasdale in particular is grappling with new love and "CPR" never shy's away from the insanity inducing emotion as she sings "Is it love or suicide?" over and over again on one of the strongest efforts on the record.
The love without guidelines feeling inspires on the chugging "jennifer's body" and the industrially explosive "pillow talk" which gets horny and headbanging in a successful noise mess. Wet Leg are not all aggressively hit-it-and-quit, as the dreamy pop of "davina mccall" and the excellently soaring vocals/deep bass of "11:21" add layers to to feelings of love and infatuation.
The band tries on some neon '80s new wave with heavy synths on "pokemon" which still feels like a work in progress. The group are much more comfortable displaying sweet/salty alt-rock in the vein of acts like Elastica on "don't speak" and their clubby dance rock with "catch these fists" which has splashes of the Arctic Monkeys.
"liquidize" is a good amalgamation of their sound as poppy/buzzy rock gets grooving with shakers and acoustic guitar layers before closer "u and me at home" sums up everything the band wants to do with this record as it deals with new found deep love in a fun manner, while also delivering arena ready riffs to support the sweet vocals.
More robust and deeper than their debut, Wet Leg's sophomore release, moisturizer, displays growth, increasing musical scope and improvement as the band flourishes in love.
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