Hi, everyone. Moisthony Appendage here, the Internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of the new Wet Leg album, moisturizer.

Here we have the sophomore album from English rock outfit Wet Leg, led by guitarists and songwriters Rhian Teasdale as well as Hester Chambers.

They started to build a buzz around the turn of the 2020s with viral singles like "Chaise Longue", which were one of many tracks dropping around that time, championing some classic post-punk aesthetics: minimal drums, angular guitars, and driving bass with some occasionally funny and absurd talk-sung lyrics.

The track went surprisingly viral. In fact, I would kind of credit it and the band with mainstreaming this sound a bit in the modern era. I mean, "Chaise [Longue]" did get a legit Silver certification over in the UK. It currently stands with over 16 million views on YouTube, which is great for a song in this style.

Certainly more engagement than some of the classic female-fronted post-punk bands from back in the day are getting now.

Now, the debut Wet Leg recorded that dropped in 2022 was pretty good. Not mind-blowing, but solid. I suppose you could say it suffered from a bit of debut-itis. Many of the low-key moments were pretty forgettable, and there were deeper cuts that were pretty derivative, too.

In some ways, it seemed like the band was still figuring out their sound. But with this new LP here, Wet Leg most certainly comes across more confident and focused in their style and their direction.

But while the songs on this LP are definitely more consistent across the tracklist. Simultaneously, this album feels less raw and risky, too.

Maybe too predictable to an extent as well, as once again, we do get more generous rock groups with a post-punk flair, more vocals that veer between talking and singing, and the occasional cut that throws it back to the '90s a bit as well. The usual Wet Leg pieces are here.

But if there are some noticeable differences to be had between this and the last album, it's that the instrumentation and production just feel much more regimented and cleanly assembled. Which, for a punk-adjacent record, can take the wind out of your sails a bit.

And then lyrically, this has to be one of the most lovesick batches of songs I have heard in the last several years. This record is just drooling all over itself, puppy dog eyes, yearning with desperation.

I mean, the prime lyrics of the song "pillow talk" read like:

"Every night I hold my pillow, I wish I was holding you / Every night I kiss my pillow, I wish I was kissing you / Every night I lick my pillow, I wish I was licking you / Every night I fuck my pillow, I wish I was fucking you."

Which... valid! Going in this direction, though, does have its pros and cons. I mean, it does give the songwriting on this LP a lot of conviction and some great moments that, when matched with Wet Leg's usual wit, can be pretty funny and entertaining.

Take, for example, the opening track, "CPR", with its heavy beats and dark, grimy bass lines that feel like something from a Viagra Boys song. But then, in addition to that, you have these sinister demented bars that liken the love being sung about to death or something that's life-threatening, but also life-giving. Be it a 911 emergency, a ghost, or a suicide.

I also loved the slick and melodic "liquidize", where Teasdale sings of a love that she is so intensely infatuated with, it feels like being hypnotized. Oh, and she's not just melting in reaction to this love or moisturized. She's liquidizing, turning to a puddle.

But while these tracks are good and quite solid and well-written, I'm already getting déjà vu in the tracklist from the drums and guitar work on "davina mccall".

I would say "pond song", deeper into the record, feels pretty standard for Wet Leg instrumentally at this point, too. And, in addition to that, there's just so little bite to the whisper, quiet vocals on the verses.

Which is a shame because I do like the detailed storytelling of that first meeting going on in the song, and how exciting it was. But the hook also lacks some punch because, what, you're telling me that your lover is so sweet even when they're sour and that you've never been so deeply in love? Surely, more profound and memorable bars have been written in the name of romance.

And yeah, I mean, valid feelings are fueling this track and many others on the album. I don't deny that. But when I'm locking in for a love song, I want to feel like I'm hearing something that is, I don't know, a cut above one of those TikToks that's like 'send this to your crush.'

I mean, occasionally throughout the record, we do get some interesting lyrical nods and allusions to Pokémon and Shakira, as well as the film Jennifer's Body. But rarely is Wet Leg knocking it out of the park on this record in terms of penning undeniable odes to yearning and desire.

My mind goes back to the track "pillow talk", which again, I do think is a sick cut, not only with its very brash and in-your-face writing, but the guitars on that track are sick, too. They're so fuzzy and searing and hot like something out of an old-school Queens of the Stone Age song. Which I think is, frankly, a pretty sick sound for Wet Leg.

Also, I love the hell out of "catch these fists". A great single and an explosive update to Wet Leg's classic sound, if you want to call it that.

But yeah, sadly, even though this record had some pretty strong singles going into it, the tracklist itself is spotty, somewhat of a mixed bag, and this is the case right up until the very end as "don't speak" — which, sadly, is not a No Doubt cover — has an odd combination of the quietest, most understated vocals on the entire record and simultaneously, the loudest guitar mix on the entire record.

"11:21" feels like the band is doing its best to pull off an impersonation of a Beach House song.

And the ending, I do appreciate from a writing standpoint, because it does end the record off in a very quaint place. I mean, it's cool that a song that is so deeply steeped in love finds itself at the very end. In a place where, yeah, we're just at home, chilling out, loving each other a whole lot. That's sweet, that's cute, that's endearing, but a memorable album does not that make on its own.

Again, I think Wet Leg went into this record with a lot of heart and a lot of focus. But the lack of instrumental and topical versatility, I think, really held this album back and prevented it from being as memorable and as exciting as it could have been, which is why I'm feeling a decent to strong 6 on this one.

Anthony Fantano, Wet Leg, forever.