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WET LEG: Moisturizer (Domino)
Verdict: Cream of the crop
BENSON BOONE: American Heart (Warner)
Verdict: Heartland rock goes pop
There was something gimmicky about Wet Leg when the Isle Of Wight duo began attracting attention with their deadpan 2021 debut single Chaise Longue. Formed at a local music college by students Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, they were clearly talented but also, as that name suggests, a bit silly. One-hit-wonder status appeared to beckon.
Four years on, they are a more serious proposition. They may not hail from a traditional hotbed of rock and roll, but Wet Leg are on the cusp of the big league.
Since Chaise Longue, they’ve topped the UK album charts, won two BRITs and two Grammys, played stadiums with Harry Styles and conquered the world’s festivals, including last weekend’s Glastonbury. Their second album, Moisturizer, out next week, is a significant step forward.
With the three male musicians who have been touring with Teasdale and Chambers now full-time members, Wet Leg have grown into a road-hardened quintet — and Moisturizer avoids any second album wobbles. It’s less quirky than their self-titled 2022 debut, but it cements their indie-pop credentials while incorporating dance music and big pop ballads.
The group (who got their name by picking emoji combinations at random) moved to the genteel Suffolk seaside town of Southwold to make the album, writing by day and watching horror films at night. Their gothic movie club has prompted a few spooky touches. Chambers and Teasdale sport ghoulish talons on the album sleeve, with Teasdale also flashing a fiendish grin. There’s also a song inspired by the cult horror film Jennifer’s Body.
Success can be scary: Rhian Teasdale (left) and Hester Chambers of indie band Wet Leg
Other than that, though, affairs of the heart dominate. The songs are split between those celebrating loved-up domestic bliss and those giving the brush-off to unwelcome amorous advances.
In the former camp, CPR sees Rhian examining the complexities of a new relationship. ‘I took a breath, jumped off the cliff because you told me to,’ she sings. ‘Is it love or suicide?’
Another love song is named after Wet Leg super-fan Davina McCall, and uses the latter’s Big Brother catchphrase (‘I’m coming to get you’) as an expression of unbridled passion.
Crowd pleaser: Wet Leg’s Teasdale performs on the Other Stage at Glastonbury on June 27
My biggest fan: Wet Leg’s Chambers (left) and Teasdale cool off on Glastonbury’s Other Stage
The mood is more acerbic on Catch These Fists, a dance-punk number about resisting a sleazy male admirer. ‘This always happens late at night, some guy comes up, says I’m his type,’ sings Teasdale.
The changes of pace arrive towards the end of the album. The disco-influenced Pokemon is a dreamy love song (‘your kiss is all I’ll ever need, you taste so sweet, like grenadine’), and 11:21 a tuneful electronic ballad that shows how Teasdale is developing into an assured frontwoman. Their old whimsy now gone, Wet Leg are in it for the long haul.
There’s more to American star Benson Boone than first meets the eye. The singer from Washington State, who appeared briefly on American Idol in 2021, chalked up the UK’s second biggest single of 2024 (behind Noah Kahan’s Stick Season) with his bruised ballad Beautiful Things. He seemed thoughtful, introspective… and a little (whisper it) dull.
I was half expecting more of the same when I saw him play a sold-out show at Kentish Town Forum last year. Within minutes, however, he had revealed his true colours by pulling off a gravity-defying backflip from the top of a speaker cabinet. He was similarly energetic when opening for Taylor Swift at Wembley Stadium last summer.
Brian May, who has played live with him, calls him ‘a golden prodigy’.
His second album, American Heart, attempts to add blue-collar rock to his repertoire. He says he was inspired by Bruce Springsteen, although his brand of Americana is perhaps closer to The Killers, with a touch of Harry Styles’s featherlight pop. There’s strong material here, plus moments that are more generic. What stands out is his forceful, belting voice.
Golden prodigy: 23-year-old singer songwriter Benson Boone, channelling Springsteen
Flipping fantastic: Boone’s live shows are characterised by daring acrobatics, like this mid-air gyration at the Grammy awards in Los Angeles in February
There’s something touchingly wholesome to the songs, all co-written by Boone, 23, and his collaborator Jack LaFrantz.
One number, Mr Electric Blue, pays tribute to his dad (‘a man’s man, a good, hard-working American’). There’s another track, piano-and-strings ballad Momma Song, in which he sings about how much he misses his mum when he’s on tour.
Elsewhere, he wrestles with ideas of masculinity on The Man In Me and revisits a forgotten love affair on Take Me Home. There’s a similar sense of yearning on Reminds Me Of You, in which Boone lists all the things that bring back bittersweet memories of an old flame. These include flip-phones, coffee, a New York show and, bizarrely, a popular brand of mouthwash.
But it’s his performances that steal the show, even when he’s making the most of some average material. He soars on Mystical Magical, recycling Olivia Newton-John’s 1981 hit Physical, and delivers the title track with a flourish. ‘We’re living in some crazy times, and I get so scared we’ll never make it through our 20s,’ he sings. Brian May’s faith in him isn’t misplaced.
Moisturizer is out on July 11. Wet Leg play TRNSMT Festival, Glasgow, the same day (wetlegband.com). American Heart is out now. Benson Boone starts a UK tour at SSE Arena, Belfast, on October 23 (ticketmaster.co.uk).
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