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Wet Leg - the Isle of Wight five-piece founded by Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers - have announced their eagerly anticipated second album moisturizer will be released on July 11th on Domino.
Alongside the album announcement, the band also share the first taste of moisturizer with its frenetic, alluringly combative lead single "catch these fists." Kicking things off with an untameable, electrified groove from its opening seconds, "catch these fists" is dance-punk par excellence - bass notes ricocheting off a wall of howling synth, thunderous beats catching strays from Teasdale's cruel deadpan.
The video, directed by the band and shot on the Isle of Wight, nods to Ti West, Cameron Crowe and their own "Wet Dream" video and is a suitably off-kilter introduction to moisturizer valley. The band will return to The Tonight Showstage at 30 Rockefeller Center on Wednesday, to give the song its international television debut.
Touring with Ellis Durand (bass), Henry Holmes (drums), and Joshua Mobaraki (guitar, synth), Wet Leg developed into a taut, caustic live operation that made good on their debut's success: #1 chart placements at home and abroad, three GRAMMYs, two BRIT Awards and over half a billion streams. If success presents a fork in the road for any new band - to "go pop" or keep following your muse - Wet Leg emphatically chose the latter path - including working with Dan Carey again as their producer. In March 2024, the band decamped to the remote seaside town of Southwold in Norfolk, England, to write; living together, working all day, watching horror movies all night, they soon locked into a new sense of symbiosis. Subsequently, all five members of Wet Leg have writing credits on moisturizer - "We were just kind of having fun and exploring," says Hester Chambers. "We focused on: Is this going to be fun to play live? It was very natural that we would write the second record together" adds Rhian Teasdale.
As happens a couple of times on moisturizer, the major animus behind "catch these fists" was an interaction with a belligerent man, as chronicled in the song's final verse. This is not to say shitty men are the sole focus of moisturizer -- no matter how much album track "mangetout", with its withering chorus of "get lost forever" may feel like the Nicole Kidman divorce photo in song form. On the contrary, this is largely an album about being, as the band exclaim on "pond song", so "DEEP! IN! LOVE!!!!" moisturizer contains love songs of every stripe: stressed-out, gooey-eyed, gratuitously horny, blissed out, obsessive and mysterious.
Although Teasdale previously felt allergic to writing love songs, moisturizer is defined by its sheer exuberance and Teasdale ended up finding the process empowering. That new sense of ownership extends to moisturizer's album art, an instant-classic freak-fest in which Chambers and Teasdale bare long, ghoulish claws; Teasdale, sporting long, kitschy socks and sans eyebrows, grins fiendishly into the camera. It reflects the album, moisturizer is the band turning the dial up and delivering a record that is unapologetically bolder, stronger and raunchier.
Sat in the balcony. Vocals and guitar we could barely hear. Too much bass and drum. Strobe lights were incredibly annoying and amateurish. Way overdone. Worst concert I've attended this year, by far.
Super amazing fun concert! Great sound, great staff, great bands!, great venue! Nice that it was all ages too!
Wet Leg brought the same high energy, punchy lyrics and brilliantly displayed their evolution as both performers and musicians. Rhiann is clearly the center of attention throughout the set. The beyond solid rhythm section of Henry and Ellis keeps everything tight. Joshua and (sweet!) Hester bring the harmonic dynamics that are a perfect complement to Rhiann energy and, yes, sensuality. That is something that can no longer be denied is that Rhiann is bringing a level of confident sensual expression intermixed with lyrics that at times border on raunchy (Mangetout) then next song you have the sweet love expressions of Davina. Mixing in a few favorites from their first album made this a well-rounded experience. Paramount Theatre in Seattle: Worst sound system ever. If it wasn't for the dynamic performance of the band this would have been miserable. If I were reviewing the Paramount it would be a zero star rating due to the terrible seats combined with the inexcusable sound system. Horrible. Will never attend a concert at Paramount again.
I love Wet Leg so much, and the performance was great. But overwhelmingly everyone I have talked to - from both nights - has agreed that we could barely hear Rhian's vocals. This was true during the songs, and also when she was talking to us inbetween. Such a bummer. During 'CPR' at the end, when she sang into the phone mic that one was fine, which just highlighted that the mix for her main mic really could do with a boost.
Wet Leg was fun and ready to party. The strobe lights were crazy. The biggest bummer was that the lead singers mic was not at the right levels or something, so you couldn't hear her. Her voice is one of the best parts of the music, so I wish it would have been more of the focus.
High energy show with lots of smoke, fog and a charismatic front woman. 10 out of 10. Will see them again next time they come to Seattle.
The venue is pretty but the audio and acoustics are terrible
Vocals were very difficult to hear, think the audio mixing could have used some work
I seen wet leg when I attended harry styles love on tour in la. They are honesty an amazing band!!! wish I found them sooner, I regret not buying a poster and going to one of there shows!! please tour in LA soon.
Screaming, Crying, Throwing up! Absolutely an experience I will never forget. It made me so happy to see them twirling and having fun on stage. Astonishing vocals and instrumentals. They could sing the alphabet and I’d pay an arm and a Wet Leg to go!
LITERALLY SHAT MYSELF!!! HAD THE BEST TIME EVER!!?!!2$23$ YOU HAVE TO GOOOOO SEEE THEEMMMM!!!!!
For a newish band, played live brilliantly. Very cohesive and the more well known songs were great. I know they only have one album, but to play for less than an hour was disappointing
Good show. Sound was weak for the first three songs then somebody hit the “sound good” button and it started hitting. Good stuff. Could have played a little longer but I guess only one album out. Learn some covers!
Awesome energy and incredibly tight set. Small venues make the shows even more incredibly. Great vibes from the crowd!!
The show was great! Wet Leg was fantastic & the opener was also an unexpected surprise (Faux Real was the name, I think). The venue was great! I’d like to go to a show in the nice weather!
BIG SLAY. I went into the concert knowing a couple of there songs now I cant stop listening to their whole album. Their concert was such a fun experience and the band energy was so good. DEFINITELY recommend seeing them!!!
I was at the Phoenix, Arizona show. It’s been three days since the concert and I still do not have my voice because I had so much that night. I especially loved when it gets to the screaming part for “ur mum.” Truly a blast! I hope to see them again someday.
First thing is that the opening act "Faux Real" was bizarre in a bad way. Didn't really care for them. Wet Leg did an ok job. They just delivered a show but they did very little to make it memorable. It's not like the crowd wasn't into it because the crowd was awesome. I go to a lot of concerts and this was just ok.
Love this venue we had just recently discovered them and they were so much fun would absaloutly see them again.
Great venue and wet leg put on a great show! Cheers!
