CD Odyssey Disc 1590: Amon Amarth

This is my second straight review of an album released in 2013. They are very different…

Disc 1590 is…. Deceiver of the Gods

Artist: Amon Amarth

Year of Release: 2013

What’s up with the Cover?  I believe this is Thor in his goat-drawn chariot (last seen in our “What’s up with the cover?” for Tyr’s album, “Lay of Thrym” back at Disc 1570). Here he is giving what-for to a horned figure we must presume to be Loki, aka “deceiver of the gods”. If you’re betting on the outcome, the smart money is on Thor.

How I Came To Know It: I have been digging with wild abandon through Amon Amarth’s discography, as they are one of my favourite discoveries of late. I initially decided “Deceiver of the Gods” didn’t warrant purchase, but I gave it a second listen as my appreciation and understanding of the band deepened. This time around, it easily made the grade.

How It Stacks Up: I now have eight Amon Amarth albums, and they are all “bitchin’” as we say in the world of metal. At least we used to say that. I have bought all eight of these albums over the past year, so it is hard to know exactly where they fall, but since I passed “Deceiver of the Gods” over the first time I’m going to mark it a bit more harshly and say it is…seventh. Don’t worry; it is still good.

Ratings: 3 stars

In previous reviews I have expounded on how much love Viking metal likes to throw Thor’s way. The old Thunder God gets more than his fair share of songs, but I get it. He’s pretty cool. On “Deceiver of the Gods” Amon Amarth parts ways (temporarily) with all the Thor talk and focuses on the gods’ oft-times nemesis, and occasional ally, Loki.

The record does branch out eventually, but the first four are all about the Loki love, starting with the record’s title track. Stylistically, this song has a bit more melodic elements than you’d expect, but by 2013 Amon Amarth were lightening up ever so slightly. Fear not: you’re still going to get Johan Hegg’s guttural vocals and the furious double-base mastery of Fredrik Andersson, but the guitar riffs are a bit higher in the mix.

I’m not saying you’ll be able to dance to this stuff, but it does lift itself out of the black metal sludge ever so slightly. Think, waist-deep in sludge, which in this case feels just right. No sludge at all and you might as well listen to the radio.

The second Loki-tune, “As Loke Falls” is a lot thicker and heavier, but Amon Amarth still find room for guitar noodles that would make Iron Maiden proud. These tunes have that same Maiden gallop you know and love, it’s just that they’re riding heavy warhorses covered in steel barding. It thumps a bit more, but still gets you there.

The Loki lovefest rounds out with “Father of the Wolf” (the giant Fenris Wolf is a child of Loki, who had quite a few problematic children, the other two being the death goddess Hel and the Midgaard Serpent) and then “Shape Shifter” (Loki often changed form while engaging in one of his various grifts for or against the gods).

From here, Amon Amarth get into more run of the mill Viking topics, including the ritual torture that is a “Blood Eagle” (this involves pulling the lungs out of a still living human, and the lyrics are, unsurprisingly, not for the faint of heart). Also there are various battles, wars and sieges and other examples of Viking derring-do. If you like this sort of stuff (and I do) then this record will really float your longship. If you don’t, then you might want to avoid Amon Amarth’s entire discography. Your loss, though, because these guys are awesome.

Overall, I tend to lean towards the songs on the melodic side, but I like that Amon Amarth remain heavy as hell regardless of how awesome a guitar riff they deploy. This stuff will always thump, growls like the Fenris Wolf himself, and will generally get your blood pumping. The double-bass in “Blood Eagle” is particularly glorious, and a brilliant accompaniment to the gallop of the song.

Lyrically, the band can get stilted and literal in places, but it is a minor quibble and at least they sing even the hokiest lines with a gusto that sells you on them.

Near the end of the record, Amon Amarth return to the Loki theme, with a song about Hel herself. This tune has a guitar riff so chunky it should be illegal to play it above the knees. Get down near the floor, let your hair hang over the strings and let the metal flow like lava onto the ears of year listeners.

“Hel” also features guest vocals from Candlemass frontman Messiah Marcolin. This adds a bit more of an anthem singing style and I briefly mused about whether all of Amon Amarth would be better with that style instead of the black metal growl of Hegg. After careful consideration I decided that while I love what Marcolin brings to “Hel” overall, Amon Amarth are perfect just as they are.

I’m glad I returned to this record, and while I rank it kind of low compared to their other albums, that’s just a sign of how much I like everything these guys do, this record included.

Best tracks: Deceiver of the Gods, Father of the Wolf, Blood Eagle, Hel

CD Odyssey Disc 1589: Alex Cameron

I spent a lot of the past week on the road for work, and as a result I didn’t get a chance to review this next record until today. On the plus side, it meant I got to listen to it a lot. The worst part of the CD Odyssey is constantly having to bid adieu to a record and move on to the next, so I take a little extra exposure to a good record as a welcome accident.

Of course, I could technically listen to a record as long as I want, but then how would there be more reviews for you to read?

Disc 1589 is…. Jumping the Shark

Artist: Alex Cameron

Year of Release: 2013

What’s up with the Cover?  Alex Cameron, done up in his sleazeball failed actor persona. This picture screams, “I coulda bin somebody!” Yeah, and we’re going to hear all about it as we listen to the record…

How I Came To Know It: This was just me drilling backward through Alex Cameron’s discography after I discovered him through his 2019 release “Miami Memory”.

How It Stacks Up: I have four Alex Cameron albums, with “Jumping the Shark” landing at #3.

Ratings: 3 stars

On each successive record, Alex Cameron has added a bit of additional production or instrumentation but on his first, 2013’s “Jumping the Shark” you get Alex Cameron with no frills, bells or whistles. It is just him, a synthesizer and an organ.

This approach sets a very electronica type backdrop, and you’d feel like you were at some late-night club scene with a lot of flashing strobe lights if it weren’t for Cameron’s stellar lyrics, painting a story well beyond what your average minor dance tune might employ. It keeps your frontal lobes as interested in what’s going on as your amygdala grooves along with the fuzzy beats.

If anything it keeps your frontal lobes much more engaged overall, as the synth sounds on “Jumping the Shark” are very basic. For the most part, they are a loop of relatively few notes, designed to set a vibe and then withdraw to the back of the room so you can pay attention to Cameron’s tales of dirtbaggery and woe.

The best of these by a good measure is “Real Bad Lookin,” the first of Cameron’s brilliant exploration of the lowlifes and drunks you meet in cheap, rundown bars. This song featuring one woman who is decidedly not a paragon of virtue. I love this verse:

“My husband's at work, my baby's in a Daewoo sauna
I hold my breath when I check, just to see that she isn't a goner
The little dream sits there, she's like a fly in a jar
Yeah who the hell are they to tell me that I can't leave my kid in the car”

Earlier verses make it clear this is all happing mid-day while the woman gets drunk in the pub.

On “Gone South” his lyrics and delivery reminded me of something between Nick Cave and the Handsome Family. They are apocalyptic and teetering off the edge of sanity:

“I spent some time making bird calls
But none responded out of fear
I dug myself a spider's hole, and it was hungry work
And then I ate from my geo-stash”

Who is this semi-feral, disturbed character scrabbling in the dirt and creeping about in the back country? Cameron never fills you in completely, and you are left to imagine how they came to be there, digging holes. Later, they also build a bear trap.

The central character theme gets explored on “The Comeback” where our anti-hero complains about how he once had a hit TV show that was later cancelled. If you’ve ever had someone bend your ear at a pub about how they’ve been hard done by (the story usually involves a lawyer and a stack of documents stuffed in the pockets of a thread-worn blazer) then you’ve also met this guy.

Through all these tales, Cameron’s synthesizer sets a competent backdrop, but don’t expect any musical genius here. He’s more storyteller than composer, and if you need a complex melody to see you through, this music is not for you. Sometimes I longed for his later albums where the music is a bit more developed, but most of the time I was happy to be absorbed into the tales of woe he spins so artfully.

Best tracks: Gone South, Real Bad Lookin, The Comeback

CD Odyssey Disc 1588: The Buggles

Cat update – Vizzini’s blood pressure is still high but down out of the danger area. However, his vision has regressed again, and he is once again functionally blind. This plus work has made for a very long week, and I’ve had to focus a bit on lowering my own blood pressure. Finally rolling a good record to review helped. Here it is.

Disc 1588 is…. The Age of Plastic

Artist: The Buggles

Year of Release: 1980

What’s up with the Cover?  This cover speaks of the future! Behold that digital font and the way that ‘buggle’ has been plugged into the network like some kind of replicant or cyborg.

Interesting that the Buggles predicted man/machine interface for the future, but not high-resolution imaging. Predicting the future is tough. That’s why in mythology it usually takes a three-woman team to get it done right.

How I Came To Know It: Like everyone not living in a cave in the eighties, I knew the hit “Video Killed the Radio Star”. Like 99% of the population, I never thought to look into the record until I saw a reference to it on a list of some sort or other (albums from 1980, New Wave albums…I forget). Anyway, I decided to give it a listen and liked what I heard.

Then it became devilishly hard to find on CD, as some of this early eighties stuff is. Once again good ole Japan came through for me, with this re-issue.

How It Stacks Up: The Buggles released two albums but I only have this one. I have listened to the other but it is not my cup of tea and won’t be getting a review. Since the one album on its own can’t stack …on to the review.

Ratings: 4 stars

The Buggles will be remembered for one of pop music’s greatest songs, and for little else. This is unfair, but as Sheila remarked to me earlier this week, “Video may have killed the radio star, but you know what else does that? Only having one hit single.” True words, but since we’re here, let’s give that one hit the love it receives, and then get into the rest of the record, for the love it is denied.

First, the song. “Video Killed the Radio Star” was the first song ever played on MTV, and while the song’s subject made it a natural choice, you can bet the producers also picked it because it is so damned good. It is a perfect pop song in all respects.

It has all the hallmarks of what makes a pop hit great. First, the hook is exceptional; an anthemic sing-a-long of the song title that is easy to keep up with, and with an arrangement that keys up even the most amateurish among us to locate the timing. On top of that, we put that cutsey “oh-wah, oh-wah” that is delightful to hear, and better still to coo alongside. In essence, the song has not one, but two irresistible hooks.

Even the arrangement is amazing. The song ends with the dreaded fade-out, but mid-fade the Buggles insert an additional off-time refrain of “radio sta-a-ar…” that literally makes you want to listen until the very last note.

OK, so that’s the hit, but what about the rest of the record? Can you count on a similar experience? The answer is both yes and no.

Yes, the record has some cool melodies, but it will take you a few listens to sink in, as the Buggles double down on their love of futuristic synthy sounds. This record is meant to sound like the future, and the robotic, metallic quality of a lot of the tunes takes some getting used to. However, it is well worth the effort.

This effort ranges from the relatively straightforward “Ellstree” which has a fairly standard structure, and some lovely piano, but with vocals on the verses that have a metallic filter which makes you wonder if there is some robot love involved. The chorus reassures you, it is good old fashioned human love, albeit in the New Wave disconnected kind of way that was a burgeoning scene in 1980.

Later, songs like “I Love You (Miss Robot)” throw off any vestiges of accessibility. This is a song for reclining on plastic furniture, or maybe taking futuristic pills while being taxied about in a flying car. The first listen this song was decidedly weird, but on future listens it gets better and better as your ear adjusts to the weird and wonderful soundscapes the Buggles create.

That is a microcosm for the record. When you first hear it, you’re not sure what to make of it, but the longer you listen the more you appreciate its brilliance. The way the band mixes in traditional instruments (piano, violin, bass) alongside synthesizer and voice modulation is inspired. “Living in the Plastic Age” and “Johnny on the Monorail” are two standouts. “Johnny on the Monorail” in particular will give you the breathless joy of what it must feel like when you take on of those Tron motorcycles through a tight curve, laying a beam of solid neon light behind you.

In short, this record is a hidden treasure that deserves the same kind of love that its hit single receives. All you have to do is let it in. Like a neural shunt, it feels a bit weird at first, but once you’re plugged in, it is pure immersive joy.

Best tracks: Living in the Plastic Age, Video Killed the Radio Star, Kid Dynamo, I Love You (Miss Robot), Elstree, Johnny on the Monorail

CD Odyssey Disc 1587: Soundtrack

This week brings better news on the cat front. It turns out our poor cat is only mostly blind, and after ten days on blood pressure medication he has recovered a small portion of his vision. It is not a lot, but it’s enough for him to jump on and off stuff with a bit more confidence. Along with this newfound sight, he’s decided the veterinarian-approved food is not to his liking, and so is currently taking a stand against it. Argh…

Anyway, here is a new review.

Disc 1587 is…. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Radio Sunnydale

Artist: Various artists

Year of Release: 2003

What’s up with the Cover?  A graveyard angel. You’d think you’d want to market a Buffy the Vampire Slayer album with a picture from the show but here we get what I assume either a stock photo from the Interwebs or a prop from what Sheila and I affectionately call “the Buffy backlot”.

How I Came To Know It: This is one of two Buffy albums a former coworker gave me when she and her partner were downsizing their CD collection in 2020. Thanks, Anna!

How It Stacks Up: I have so many soundtracks that I have a hard time keeping track. I think I’m up around 36. Of those, I’ll say “Radio Sunnydale” slips just in front of my other Buffy soundtrack from 1999, landing at #28.

Back in the late nineties/early oughts both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and compact discs were all the rage, so it should not surprise you to hear that I have three different Buffy soundtracks. Of those, this one comes in at #2.

Ratings: 2 stars

If you are not familiar with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, my condolences. This show was some amazing TV that has more than held up over the almost two decades since it’s final episode aired. At some point I’m sure I’ll be pulling the DVD collection down to watch the whole thing for a 4^th time. Maybe not for a few years yet, but it will happen.

Those who are familiar with the show will know that music features prominently. The songs are generally selected because they either do a good job of setting a mood for a scene, or just appeal to young people of the day. Often it feels to be a mix of both.

While I know some of the songs on this record, most were new to me when I first got the record in 2020. This is because like today, back in 2003 I was not listening to the radio – Sunnydale or otherwise. For example, Sheila advises me that the Dandy Warhols’ “Bohemian Like You” was a big hit and even today gets occasional airtime. Good to know and I declare the song…OK.

The opening track was very familiar mind you, being a Breeder’s cover of the Buffy Main Title Theme. The original is by Nerf Herder, but the Breeders do a fine job of it, making it a bit grimier in the process. I liked it but I did miss that glorious drum roll featured at the end of the original.

Instead my favourites tended to be from artists I already liked, and songs I sometimes already had. Most notable is Aimee Mann’s “Pavlov’s Bell” a glorious track off her 2002 masterpiece, “Lost in Space.” Aimee Mann even was featured playing live on Buffy in one season, although I had forgotten the context and had to look it up. Playing herself, she gets to deliver the line, “Man, I hate playing vampire towns.” Nice. Anyway, it is a great song and well worth your time here or anywhere else it shows up.

Also good was Sarah McLachlan’s “Prayer of Saint Francis” which was apparently released on early editions of her 1997 record “Surfacing”. I am sad to say I don’t have that version, but that’s OK because here it is, and the song reminded me how much I used to love McLachlan back in the day. I still love her work, but I overplayed it a bit and am giving that part of my collection a rest. It was nice to have something “new to me” to enjoy by her. Like the Buffy series itself, I’ll be revisiting her collection one day down the road.

There are some unfortunate tunes that are very much of their time. “Sound of the Revolution” has a lot of weird Matrix-like sound effects hiding what is otherwise a boring and overproduced assortment of noises. “Ballad for Dead Friends” is exactly the overwrought Emo stew of sound which I expect was better when overlaid on some significant sequence on the show but fails to hold its own as music alone.

The CD ends with “The Final Fight” a soaring instrumental that had me thinking of Lord of the Rings travel sequences. It also had me remembered the glory of that final fight sequence as the show wrapped up. The song is full of bombast and majesty and probably only great if you are a fan looking to get nostalgic over the amazing final episode. I am, so it worked for me.

Overall, this record is a lot like how I imagine listening to the radio feels. Some great songs if you wait for them, sprinkled in with a bunch of others that are OK, but maybe not what you’d pick for yourself if you were making a mixed CD of your own. All the same, I had a good time and I’ll be keeping this collection of memories.

Best tracks: Buffy Main Theme – The Breeders, Stop Thinking About It – Joey Ramone; Pavlov’s Bell – Aimee Mann; Prayer of St. Francis – Sarah McLachlan

CD Odyssey Disc 1586: Eades

Today marks the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. She reigned for over 70 years and was the only monarch in my lifetime and then some. Throughout her long reign she was a picture of grace, dignity and duty. We will not see her like again, and while she will be sorely missed, she has more than earned her final rest.

OK...before I get all emotional, let's switch gears and get back to music. 

Disc 1586 is…. Delusion Spree

Artist: Eades

Year of Release: 2022

What’s up with the Cover?  Whoever thought this half-baked idea of an album cover was a good idea was in the depths of a delusion spree.

How I Came To Know It: I read a review on Paste Magazine and checked it out. Paste gave it 7.7/10 so it is fair to say they liked it a lot more than me, but obviously I liked it enough to download it from Bandcamp.

How It Stacks Up: This is my only Eades album, so it does not stack up.

Ratings: 2 stars but almost 3

Eades is an English post-punk band that sounds like someone crossed American nineties rockers Cracker with the Cure. I’ve had a bit of a ‘thing’ for these post-punk English bands in the last few years and Eades’ sound sufficiently intrigued me to draw me in.

I like these guys well enough, but on multiple listens this album made me feel restless more than interested. They are tight and have some pretty nifty bass lines, but overall this record did not speak to me. Nothing I can point to specifically, and the songs are all fairly good, but on balance I was not overwhelmed in a kind of “play it over and over again” kind of way.

The boys have plenty of energy, and these would be great songs to engage in the pogo stick variant of slam dancing. Just lean and bounce and maybe thrash your arms around at your sides a bit. They mix in some clever song construction decisions with all the bounce and are not afraid to shift a song’s tempo or approach midway through to catch your attention anew.

There are also times when the music, goes from feverish celebration to overheated. Kind of like that last song you dance to after once too many beers that leaves you feeling a bit clammy and wishing your group had arrived early enough to secure a table with seating. The production is dense in places and while I liked the shifting approaches, they also sometimes felt a bit forced.

My favourite song on the record is the title track, which as a very Cure-like lilting bass lick. A theme song for walking through some blue-collar English suburb. The song also mixes in some genuine guitar crunch with those wistful basslines. They do a solid job of suggesting a nihilistic wandering with a hint of angry purpose. Also, ‘delusion spree’ is a good expression and something most of us can remember going on at least once or twice in our lives.

“Delusion Spree” (the song) along with “Saying Forever” and “Voodoo Doll” form a trio of songs that form the heart of the record both in terms of their location and their strength.

That said, even these songs don’t stand out strongly from the collection, and for the most part I found myself enjoying every song a little bit, but not ever getting a lasting impression of brilliance. It was just a bit of background driving music, and I need more from my music listening experience than that.

Consequently, while “Delusion Spree” is every bit worthy of Paste’s 7.7 rating (the band is tight, and the music is compelling and interesting) it never really spoke to me. It could be that it was a bit too frantic, or maybe overly busy in the production, although it is neither of those things to a fault. It just didn’t speak to me at an emotional level, and maybe with some of those Cure-type basslines I really wanted it to.

I bought it as a digital album and it isn’t so bad that I’ll be deleting it from my digital collection, but it falls short of shelf-worthy, so no physical copy needed for my CD shelves.

Best tracks: Delusion Spree, Saying Forever, Voodoo Doll

CD Odyssey Disc 1585: Fleetwood Mac

It has been a hard 48 hours. Shortly after posting my last review Sheila noted that the wide-eyed stare our cat Vizzini had been giving us when we got back from holiday was not just relief at our return. He had become blind. A very long day and night at the vet later, and it turns out he has Stage 3 kidney disease, and the blindness (which is almost total, apart from a bit of light sensitivity) is irreversible. He now has medication, and has a life expectancy of between a few months and a few years. We just don’t know.

Vizzini’s not in any pain or discomfort and seems to be accepting his new lack of vision a lot more gracefully than we are. I’m a little better tonight, but that’s partly just being cried out. We’ll make the best of the years that remain and give him a good life, but it still hurts.

Sorry to start with such a downer. I will now try to distract myself from this shitty situation by reviewing a shitty record.

Disc 1585 is…. Mirage

Artist: Fleetwood Mac

Year of Release: 1982

What’s up with the Cover?  It looks like some Fleetwood Mac style “drama”. Lindsey Buckingham is dancing with Stevie Nicks, but it looks like Christine McVie wants to cut in. Is this “Rumours” all over again? Sadly, no.

How I Came To Know It: This was part of my deep dive into Fleetwood Mac in 2020 where I temporarily convinced myself that I needed to own more of their records.

How It Stacks Up: After reviewing “Tango in the Night” at Disc1490 I was so disappointed I ranked it last (#4) leaving one rung up for “Mirage”. However, "Mirage" has now failed even this most basic test, and so I must now place it  at #4. “Tango In the Night” moves up one slot by default, although both are equally banished from my collection. Since this is the final review for the band, here’s a full recap:

1. Rumours: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 1423)
2. Self-Titled: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1488)
3. Tango in the Night: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 1490)
4. Mirage: 2 stars (reviewed right here)

 Ratings: 2 stars

"Mirage” is what it looks like when pop becomes pablum. “Mirage” came out at a time when Fleetwood Mac could do no wrong, commercially speaking, and it spawned several hits. Many of these songs are the best songs on the record, and yet they still found ways to annoy me.

Let’s start with “Gypsy”. Unless you live under a rock, or perhaps in a cult where popular music is forbidden, you will know this classic penned and sung by Stevie Nicks. This tune is solid and has all the elements that make a good Stevie Nicks song. The witch-light quality of the lyrics, and compelling melodies in a mid-tempo sway. In terms of what it is about, Nicks is similar to Ronnie James Dio in her ability to make songs feel mysterious and magical without ever being all that clear what is going on. Does lightning strike? Yes, maybe once, and maybe twice, but all that lightning still left me light on narrative.

“Gypsy” has some annoying production. Fleetwood Mac was an early adapter of every smoothed out soulless sound that ever came out of the depths of 1987 five years later. The worst part of the song is a synthy guitar bit that fades away with a merciless slowness. It is the equivalent of eating a bowl of raspberries where the last one you eat has a worm in it. Sure there was some delightful flavours previously, but that’s not the taste left in your mouth.

Also, good is “Hold Me” which was a top five hit, and inescapable if you watched music videos back in the eighties. The production here is also painful, but the song has a gentle sway to it that is hard to resist, despite the presence of One Thousand Unnecessary Sounds, the worst of which is what is what I suspect is a cowbell on helium.

Other than the hits, we have songs that range from the forgettable to the irritating. They all flow together in the same way instant oatmeal flows together; nice and even, and without any discernable colour. Nicks and Christine McVie have amazing rock voices – two of the best – but even they struggle to rise up out of this morass of sound.

The record’s nadir is “Empire State,” a Lindsey Buckingham number that is supposed to be a love song to the energy of New York City but comes across as a musical number so far off Broadway, you could see the Rio Grande from the loge window. This song also features the only ‘phone with a greater propensity to wreck a rock record than the saxophone: the xylophone. A telephone would have been more welcome.

The record’s best song is the final one. “Wish You Were Here” shows that latter-stage Fleetwood Mac owes a lot to Christine McVie, who can sing her way out of any jam. Here she blows the doors off with her signature voice, and despite some less than enthusiastic drums, manages much better production choices, relying on some well-placed piano to deliver the accompaniment to her brilliance.

“Mirage” is not without its charms, and if you like something that won’t nag at your emotions too hard while you listen to AM radio on your way to work, it will serve. However, if you’re reading this review there’s a good chance you want your music interesting and emotionally impactful. If that’s the case, stick with Rumours and the self-titled record. This “Mirage” is likely to leave you as most do, with nothing but a mouthful of sand for your effort.

Best tracks: Gypsy, Hold On, Wish You Were Here

CD Odyssey Disc 1584: Wet Leg

I’m back from a short mid-week holiday to celebrate my mom’s birthday. It was great to connect with family again and now I’m preparing for a return to work tomorrow. But first, one last fun thing must happen – a music review!

Disc 1584 is…. Self-Titled

Artist: Wet Leg

Year of Release: 2022

What’s up with the Cover?  Side hug! Because sometimes a full front-to-front hug is too much.

How I Came To Know It: I heard the song “Chaise Longue” on a “best new songs” list at Paste Magazine many months ago. I liked it and kept an eye out for the band to release a full album. It took forever but at last, here it is!

How It Stacks Up: There is only one Wet Leg album and this is it, so no stacking up.

Ratings: 4 stars

Wet Leg’s debut record is a perfect summer fun album, full of all the silly joy that a good summer’s day holds, and all the sunburn of regret from any flings that went sideways along the way.

As you might expect from such a record, there is not a lot of deep philosophizing. This is fun pop music that is to easy to digest and full of hooks that are much harder to write and produce than will appear on first blush. Delivering catchy pop tunes like Wet Leg members Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers manage here may appear to be easy breezy, but it is damned hard work.

Often with young ingenues I will talk about how they are old souls, but these two feel very much like young souls. Young souls are also great, because they are filled with breathless enthusiasm. That enthusiasm is infectious, and makes you feel young again just by listening. Wet Leg takes your ears and mind on a journey of sound that will make you want to dance, or at the very least rock your head back and forth and smile at the sky.

The record features a plethora of clever turns of phrase, typically linked up with a catchy bass hook that makes the words an extra step more clever than they actually are. From “Chaise Longue”:

“Is your muffin buttered?
Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?”

Do we know what this means? We do not, but it is pop gold and nigh impossible to resist singing along once you’ve got the timing down well enough to not flub it (the music on this record is notable for its well-timed phrasing).

Or sometimes the lyrics are even more simple and straightforward, like this from “Angelica”:

“I don’t even know what I’m even doing here.
I was told that there would be free beer.”

Aah, I remember the days when a party could draw people simply by advertising there would be a complimentary keg in the garage, and plastic cups a-plenty. Nowadays I’m more likely to get sidelong glances telling people to BYOB but what can I say? I’m old school.

“Chaise Longue” made them famous, but as anyone who starts to get to know this record will tell you, ““Wet Dream” is the better song.” Indeed it is, with a killer driving riff and the well-placed hand claps that are the sugar high of many a sing-a-long pop hit.

There are some bummer tunes, of course. As noted previously, no summer is complete without a bit of a late-day bummer where you can clink your beer bottles and cheer ‘c’est la vie’ to one another as the setting sun shines through the amber glass. There are a couple of grade A entries here. “Loving You” and “Piece of Shit” are both brilliant and sad little “fuck you” post-break up songs. The well-placed swear words on these songs feels vigorous and deliberate; the kind of swearing one engages in when the words are still relatively new and exciting. As a long-time swear veteran, I miss that.

Because this album is so sugary and fun (even in its dark moments) I set out determined to give it 3 stars. However, when I got to the end of this review I realized I’d put 6 of the 12 tunes in the “best tracks” section below. If half the album are its best tracks, that’s a 4-star album. So yes, this record is excellent. Maybe it won’t make you discover some deeper inner truth, but it might help get you back in touch with the wild and wonderful feeling of being young, and maybe even get you dancing along the way.

Best tracks: Chaise Longue, Angelica, Wet Dream, Loving You, Ur Mom, Piece of Shit