By Beau Hayhoe
You’ve heard the music. Your mother has most likely heard the music. Anybody who’s “extraordinarily on-line” has undoubtedly heard the music.
If you happen to haven’t heard the music? Prepare to fulfill Wet Leg. The music, in fact, is the riotously enjoyable, extremely intelligent “Chaise Longue” from the band of the second (significantly). With its understanding references to Imply Ladies (“Would you want us to assign somebody to butter your muffin?”), zippy guitar, and a significantly cool bass line, it’s no marvel many dubbed “Chaise Longue” the indie music of final summer season.
The fervor surrounding the group — shaped in 2019 within the Isle of Wight by school associates, rhythm guitarist-lead singer Rhian Teasdale and backing vocalist-lead guitarist Hester Chambers — took off astonishingly rapidly, touring from hitmaker BBC Radio 6 Music to the ears of Iggy Pop himself, who referred to as out the observe’s sharp drumming.
The rising tide has lastly reached the shore, as that smash single is joined by a sonically assorted roster of 11 further songs on Moist Leg’s self-titled debut, out immediately (April 8) on Domino Information. With every day, the group’s most well-known observe reaches an ever-expanding viewers — not dangerous for a late-night, at-home demo recorded in a lounge containing an precise chaise longue.
So, why Moist Leg, and why now?
Might it’s the truth that the band’s title hails from a recreation they performed, punching random emojis right into a keyboard? Is it the group’s easy mix of tongue-in-cheek aptitude, suitably tinged with the millennial despair of the terminally on-line, that strikes a chord?
Or maybe, is it an undercurrent of early-aughts nostalgia, because the band counts the White Stripes and early Kings of Leon amongst its influences?
Moist Leg sprang from a “pact” the duo made when taking part in competition reveals as a part of Teasdale’s earlier solo venture, RHIAN— that the band now exists because it does is a bit of fine fortune that’s not misplaced on both of them. The group themselves are nonetheless making an attempt to make sense of all of it.
“I don’t perceive it. It’s like having actually huge footwear that you need to put on and faux that they match,” Teasdale informed MTV Information over Zoom with fun. She was lounging with Chambers on the ground in entrance of a comfy electrical hearth the afternoon previous to a San Francisco present.
That unbelievable buzz has adopted all of them the way in which throughout the pond and all through the USA, revealing itself in stunning methods.
Befitting the pandemonium surrounding any boy band, Teasdale and Chambers had not one, however two bras (and a customized T-shirt) thrown their means throughout a packed March present on the former metal factory-turned-music venue Brooklyn Steel. Within the means of promoting out reveals again within the U.Ok. and within the States (together with a well-received stint at “ceremony of passage” South by Southwest), the band was greeted by ever-more impassioned shows of fandom, together with a Seattle live performance providing of “actually cute” small, neon plastic toys tossed onstage.
Hollie FernandoA humorous gesture although it is perhaps, it’s indicative of 1 factor: Individuals actually, actually love Moist Leg. Even with simply 4 songs launched, the band offered out a string of December reveals in New York and Los Angeles earlier than returning months later to even bigger venues, full of tons of upon tons of extra folks. (They jumped from the tiny Union Pool to close by Brooklyn Metal in March, drawing practically 1,700 extra followers within the course of.)
As if sold-out concert events and a flurry of TV appearances weren’t sufficient, the band has drawn a minimum of one glowing comparison to the likes of The Beatles. Sure, The Beatles. Regardless of all of it, Teasdale and Chambers want to stay centered in an virtually tunnel vision-like means, asking administration and associates to chorus from sending tales about themselves.
“It’s complicated, as nicely — as a result of we like music, listening to music. There are such a lot of superior bands… that we hearken to, and it simply does make you respect how subjective artwork and music is,” Chambers mentioned.
Teasdale and Chambers, who’ve rounded out their band with school and music scene associates for a close-knit, bouncy, and energetic reside sound, have since heard Moist Leg singles on the radio and in pubs again dwelling. A bashful, laughing Teasdale referred to as the phenomenon “actually bizarre!”
They continue to be excited, if considerably bewildered, by their success, but appreciative of the method, irrespective of how tiring it may be. As ever, they’re centered on the subsequent present. “We’re fairly busy more often than not so we actually don’t take into consideration something a lot,” Teasdale mentioned with fun.
In such a short while, they’ve come a really great distance. Signing with Domino Information allowed the band to degree up from its authentic demos considerably, working with producer Dan Carey (previous credit embody Fontaines DC). Nonetheless, varied components of their preliminary recordings discovered their means onto the eponymous album.
The LP was really completed in London within the house of about two weeks in April 2021 — name it an odd sensation to have an entire file in your again pocket with no correct single out on the planet. The complete-length effort is a definite, comparatively compact providing that stays true to what you already might need heard from Moist Leg — with just a few enjoyable twists. Seven of its 12 songs clock in at about 3:20 or underneath (5 of these tracks additionally are available in underneath the three-minute mark).
Like a viral, memorable tweet that pops up in your timeline and sends you down a rabbit gap, Moist Leg don’t want a ton of time or house to know your consideration. And so they proceed to carry it all through the self-titled debut. The file is full of statements all their very own, be they intelligent innuendos or understanding nods to on-line tradition. It jumps proper into the fray with the lean, storage rock-tinged opener “Being in Love.”
Lest one suppose the contemporary, fast-rising band to be a flash within the pan, contemplate the depth discovered within the quietly unhappy ode “Loving You,” which locations a easy riff alongside a story of a former lover’s new companion: “Sorry if I appear a bit bit upset / Whenever you say she appears a bit bit like me once we first met.” The cheeky “Moist Dream,” buoyed by an brisk call-and-response and sly, mischievous lyricism, is one other spotlight. As ever, Moist Leg are squarely in on the enjoyable.
“I Don’t Wanna Go Out” and “Grocery store” take a extra mid-tempo method at totally different factors on Moist Leg, whereas the spectacular album nearer “Too Late Now” channels, say, Pixies. Its coolest, most relatable second is the spoken phrase interlude resulting in the music’s deliriously energetic last minute: “Now all the things goes unsuitable/I believe I modified my thoughts once more / I’m unsure if this can be a music / I don’t even know what I’m saying.”
When the file does draw to a detailed, it leaves the listener pleasantly exhausted, oddly pleased but reflective, and most of all, very, very seen. The band ruminates on increasing that signature Moist Leg sound. Teasdale and Chambers famous a latest Seattle present by psych-rock band Kadabra was memorable and galvanizing. For now, Chambers mentioned the group merely needs to “simply depend our fortunate stars.”
“Every part that we’re doing is past something that I may have ever seen us doing,” Teasdale mentioned. “We simply need to absorb all the good things that retains taking place. Not that we’re not formidable. The place we’re at now’s simply so wild.”
Moist Leg, identical to you, are actually making an attempt to determine all of it out as they go. Suffice to say, they’re doing splendidly to this point.
