In the hyper-digitized, saturated music world, sometimes its day-to-day mechanics can start to feel inconsequential. When three zillion songs are posted to the web daily, the true “standouts
are sometimes diminished or overlooked because there’s just so much, some would say too much, going on. But, when things are getting to feel dry, trivialized, and overwrought (especially during December and January’s “year end” clusterfuck), there are bands like Wild Beasts who can once again highlight music’s inherent value.
On January 7, the British four-piece released their best single yet, “Wanderlust.” The track is an unrelenting statement of intent, not in a “we strive to sell more records” way manner per se, but a way that most effectively displays a shift in the band’s attitude. Wild Beasts are bored with the textural, melancholic sound of their last record, 2011’s Smother, and are ready to bring back the confrontational nature of their debut record, 2008’s Limbo, Panto.
“Wanderlust” is a reputed take on the artist’s integrity and role in today’s industry. Singer Hayden Thorpe, who has an unrelenting knack for words, tells of artists too focused on their checkbooks, artists whose hearts aren’t there. The track weaves ethereal samples over a biting synth bass, with Thorpe crooning, “We’re decadent beyond our means. We’ve a zeal to feel the things they’ll never feel.”
In a colossal finale to the track, Wild Beasts pair cinematic synths and strings with Thorpe’s both scathing and oddly distressing lyrics — “Don’t confuse me with someone who gives a fuck.” Is Thorpe playing one of his aspirational but soulless artistic zealots? Or is he speaking for his own, supposedly veritable self? The song never really answers its questions and that’s half the reason it’s so great.
Wild Beasts’ fourth album, Present Tense, is out February 25 via Domino.