Leaning towards the artier side of the indie scale are tonight’s headliners, the Cumbrian four piece Wild Beasts. But despite my instant attempt to pigeon-hole the band’s sound, I can assure with some sincerity that this a band with a genuinely unique sound with all their own subtleties of quirkiness and song craft.
Bristol’s Anson room is the band’s choice of venue for the Western leg of this British tour, which comes off the back of a set of successful festival appearances at the likes of The Big Chill and Glastonbury. They picked up a Mercury Music Prize nomination in 2010 with album “Two Dancers”, but in the eyes of many were unfortunate not to receive a nomination a second time around for their most recent release “Smother”. Both highly regarded records that received high praise from The Fly and NME to name a few.
Tonight’s set was a culmination, of their most succulent of songs. Quality control from two quality albums, both less than 2 years old and still fairly fresh in the ears of the indie scene. A sure fire set opener came in the form of “Bed of Nails”. Its effects laden guitars and steady synth beat rolling over us while front man Hayden Thorpe’s high pitched vocals provide a strong contrast to the subtle bongo driven drum beats.
One glaring problem has made itself obvious already though. The venue itself, a boxy shape that’s reminiscent of the acoustic aesthetics of my old school lunch hall is consequently, intensifying the echoing effects of keys and guitars, turning the band’s sound in to a wall of noise that bounces around the room. It’s a niggling but persistent irritation for the rest of the night and it means that some of the subtler musicianship is muffled and lost in the overall serving of sound.
The choice of the set list covers a one to the other spread of the two albums and next in line are “We still got the Taste Dancing on Our Tongues” “albatross” “Fun Powder Plot” and “Devil’s Crayon”. The order of songs offers a tempo that crescendos one minute and dips in the next keeping things interesting for the one and a half thousand or so bopping heads and swaying hips of tonight’s crowd.
Characterising features of the band, as well as the frequent but tasteful use of bongos, are the combined vocal styles of Hayden Thorpe and Tom Fleming who mostly deliver well. But Thorpe falters on the trickier notes of crowd pleaser “Fun Powder Plot”, sounding a touch strained like he’s emptying his lungs a little too much for his own good. But fortunately this is a blip in their performance that doesn’t show itself again.
Some of the biggest cheers of tonight are those that greet older tracks like “Two Dancers 2” and “This is our Lot”. The latter of which is particularly well received, sparking some hip action from the more enthusiastic members on the audience. What is in my opinion one the new album’s strongest tracks “Reach a Bit Further” receives equal appreciation for its livelier opening and hook laden chorus and interesting swapping of vocal duties between Fleming and Thorpe. The crowd is quietly appreciative for the majority, proffering the experience of the melodic sonics to wash over them, but certainly they make their voices heard between tracks.
A fan favorite “Hooting and Howling” is the band’s departing offering before they leave the stage for the inevitable encore, and there is an air of satisfaction amongst tonight’s cardigan clad, beard sporting audience. Shortly after and its fairly obvious to anyone who has a vague of knowledge of their back catalogue that “Lion’s Share” and the band’s flag ship single “All The Kings Men” were coming our way.
Their return is well received but the crowd looks a bit thinner due to the recurring problem that the last trains home for the Welsh contingency of the audience have already left just as the band get stuck in to their encore. A shame indeed but from the noise the crowd are making now, you wouldn’t assume anyone was missing.
Their sendoff track comes in the form of suitably named “End Come Too Soon”. It’s a slightly cheesy choice if indeed they had selected it on the strength of its name alone. But regardless, it is a sublime sound to say good bye with, as keys and guitar melodies entwine one another like two dancing bodies of sound. It’s a mellow but atmospheric finish but let’s face it, subtlety and song craft have always taken precedence over energy or attitude with Wild Beasts and the final touches have impeccably been put.
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Bristol’s Anson room is the band’s choice of venue for the Western leg of this British tour, which comes off the back of a set of successful festival appearances at the likes of The Big Chill and Glastonbury. They picked up a Mercury Music Prize nomination in 2010 with album “Two Dancers”, but in the eyes of many were unfortunate not to receive a nomination a second time around for their most recent release “Smother”. Both highly regarded records that received high praise from The Fly and NME to name a few.
