Sounding something like Victorian music hall on acid and naming their B-sides 'Sylvia, a Melodrama', Wild Beasts might be an amusing novelty if The Decemberists hadn't got there first and with much more originality.
Instead, they come across sounding like Palladium after a night on the helium balloons, with only a bit of bleeping here and there to save them. On first listen it actually catches your attention; by the third or fourth it's the musical equivalent of nails being scraped down a chalkboard.
What this experience might amount to live is anyone's guess, but if you really want to know you can catch them live around the UK between now and December 2. After all, they do look a little bit like a Smiths tribute band, so they can't be all bad.
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