6th November 2023
Listen
Listen
Following the explosive release of the 2021 singles “Chaise Lounge” and “Wet Dream,” Wet Leg are finally here. Releasing their eponymous debut album, they certainly did not disappoint. Marked by their tongue in cheek style, deadpan lyrics and hooky bass, the U.K. duo navigate the anxiety and hesitancy that comes with dating, social media and post-pandemic life in your early twenties, with a clever mixture of playfulness and candour.
Nothing is more crucial than the track order as opener “Being in Love” and closer “Too Late Now” prove.
By beginning the album with the erratic and guitar-charged “Being in Love,” the duo encapsulates the unrestrained panic and obsession that comes with the desire for romantic love to fill some kind of hole in your life. A little too honest for most and awfully to the point, lyrics like, “The world is caving in / And I’m kinda struggling / But I kinda like it ‘cause it feels like being in love” abruptly draw you into the exhilarating turmoil that is Wet Leg, as a barrage of instruments kicks in.
Less naive than its seemingly youthful musings about love, “Too Late Now” finishes the album with the pitfalls of adulthood, marking the journey of the album. Incorporating a conversational style of singing where they even admit “I’m not sure if this is a song,” the disenchanted ramblings of someone who isn’t sure what they want from life — or at least not in this modern age — is refreshing.
There’s something so fun about the duo’s innovation and their eagerness to try new things. Especially when music is being released with the aim to trend, only to burn out fast. Layering songs with exhilarated screams and slow-building climaxes, Wet Leg are unlike any female indie duo currently on the scene.
It’s a dynamic album, one that was made for the sake of it more than anything else. Without trying to be cool, Wet Leg achieves exactly that. ‘Mean Girls’ and dating app references aside, it feels as if the band stepped out of a nineties time capsule. Songs like “Piece of Shit” and “Ur Mum” are snarky and filled with sharp wit, ideal to scream late at night in a car or to dance around your room post-break-up with friends. “I Don’t Wanna Go Out” and “Supermarket” suit the idle university student lyrically but are really about the mundane acceptance of reality and, in juxtaposition, the glamorisation of the painfully average.
Still, the sultry and hazy sound of the beat-driven single “Wet Dream” is the real high point of the album. It’s memorable and is a shining example of their quirky take on post-punk. In spite of the general chaos associated with being in your early twenties, subtle psych melodies and rich harmonies tie “Wet Leg” into an exciting, cohesive body of work.
Effortlessly cool and unapologetically fierce, Wet Leg embraces everything they shouldn’t as two women in Indie Rock. Their arrogance and lust, their sarcasm and shortcomings. They never take themselves too seriously, abandoning any illusions of pretension in a genre riddled with it. In doing so, there’s no doubt in my mind – they’ve unintentionally crafted a new classic with their debut and I will be highly anticipating their next release.
You can find their tour dates here.
Featured Image Credit: Eszter Vida
