The record also smartly avoids the trappings that sank the genre back in the late noughties, being a collection of tightly written songs that don't outstay their welcome - as opposed to the repetitive 'laddish' anthems desperate for teenage guys with dark fruits to overplay at festival campsites. The songs are produced much more in the less-is-more approach of the trailblazers of the genre like The Strokes, rather than the overly compressed, everything and the kitchen sink mess that so much 2000s rock became. Rhian Teesdale's vocals also set her apart from many of the acts the band are calling back to, dynamically shifting from a nonchalant drawl akin to Julian Casablancas to a Kate Bush-esque yelp, to spoken word, to riot grrl sarcasm and aggression.
The opener Being In Love exemplifies this clever simplicity well, being a song about all the cliché negative feelings associated with romance - e.g. feeling sick and lethargic. But instead of comparing love to these things, the theme is inverted and Rhian lists these feelings and concludes to them feeling like being in love. Combined with the swirling, detuned guitar lines; it makes the track a whole lot of fun. The irreverence of Chaise Longue is carried through the other singles with Angelica being about shit parties in your mid-20s where no-one knows whether to go wild like they used to or to act like sophisticated adults and bring some lasagne. The track has this thick and noisy post chorus instrumentation that is surprisingly heavy. Wet Dream sees Teesdale imagine what a certain guy's fantasies may be, with ridiculous scenarios described over a catchy dance-punk groove. Ur Mum, much like Chaise Longue, is a simple post-punk tune with some glorious lyrics tearing into an ex-lover who just lazes around smoking weed all day. "I feel sorry for your mum" is as about as blunt as it can get. The song closes out with Rhian proclaiming to give her longest and loudest scream, before going ahead and showing us. All of these songs are just so fun and catchy.
The slower tracks also hold up pretty well too, leaning into the more neo-psych territory. I Don't Wanna Go Out ebbs and flows through its lose and swirling structure. The track is about growing out of party culture and feels like the hazy hangover that becomes more frequent as you get older. Loving You and Piece Of Shit are cathartically bitter ballads about shitty guys, matched to lethargic and hazy guitars. The closer Too Late Now is also a bit more of a slow builder, despite in actuality being about the same length as all the other songs. The song is about the uncertainty and pressures of young adult life, and how sometimes you only need simple pleasures despite what is told to us. The track builds in pace from a sluggish first verse, into a tense spoken word middle section, before exploding for the remainder of the tune.
There are a couple of moments where the record feels a little derivative, primarily the repetitive 2 chord garage rock riff of Oh No (despite some great lyrics and vocal moments from Teesdale) and the underwritten Supermarket. Supermarket really feels like filler to be honest, it's repetitive and not all that catchy or unique - especially compared to some of the earworm singles earlier on in the record.
Wet Leg is just a fun, well written indie rock album. What it does might not be the most revolutionary thing, but it does it well. I just can't imagine anyone listening to a track like Angelica or Ur Mum and not having a smile on their face. I know it'll be in my rotation for the whole summer at the very least.
Top Tracks: Being In Love, Chaise Longue, Angelica, I Don't Wanna Go Out, Wet Dream, Loving You, Ur Mum, Piece Of Shit, Too Late Now
8/10
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