Urban Junkies | Music | Ones to Watch: Wild Beasts'

Here's four lads hailing from Cumbria via Leeds who call themselves Wild Beasts. It's worth keeping an eye on this lot.

Without having seen them live or having heard the forthcoming album, it's hard to pin too much hope on their shoulders. But the ears have detected a quirky charm that they can certainly call their own.

Listening to singles 'Through Dark Night' and 'Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants', the first thing that hits you like a poke in the ribs is lead singer Hayden Norman Thorpe's wobbly falsetto which morphs into a fierce roar at the end of every song-line. Such vocal peculiarity is matched by an unpredictable hybrid of art pop that conjures up the ghost of another Leeds band Cud, but more accurately brings to mind Glasgow's Orange Juice in their jingly-jangly hey-day.

However it's unlikely that this group are planning to fit into any such expectations with the album they are working on. You get the sense that these are beasts who do not take kindly to being musically caged.

Wild Beasts
The beasts are touring the country this summer, although next London date is yet to be disclosed.