Written Before Listen
Before this, I’ve yet to hear of Wet Leg, but as a debut goes, it’s been making waves and I don’t know exactly why, Well hopefully I can see the hype at the end of this review so without further ado, let’s get into it.
Influences
Right away, the first thing that I realized is that….Wet Leg has yet to find an original sound. So many instances on this album where the instrumentation is just like any indie rock band from the 2000s. Think of Franz Ferdinand, The Breeders, Pavement, The Strokes, and Blur to an extent. The song “Wet Dream” alone sounds very similar to late 2000s Arctic Monkeys. The 60s vibe and dreaminess of “I Don’t Want To Go Out” isn’t too different from when MGMT did the same thing in 2010. There's also a counter riff that is extremely similar to the main riff of “The Man Who Sold The World” by David Bowie on here as well which is not the worst thing imaginable but worth mentioning when discussing this topic. The bassline on “Convincing” has probably been on multiple songs by Interpol already. “Loving You” has one of my least favorite indie cliches which is the simple drum machine patterns with clean guitars, if you're doing drum machines, you need to complement it with something exciting. Overall, it seems like Wet Leg has a long way to go if they want to stay as relevant as they are now.
Songwriting
One thing that brought Wet Leg to the status they have now is that their songwriting is sexual but it's mixed with quirky wordplay and tired delivery. The song “Chaise Lounge” is a perfect example of this and….sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn’t. There are some cool topics discussed here like the song “Being In Love” which is about how being in love is overrated, which isn’t as discussed as actually being in love, but it makes Wet Leg sound shallow as “Chaise Lounge” follows right after. There are dancer tracks that so happen to be about not wanting to be at a party which might not be the most unique topic but it's less cliche than a pure party track. The song “Wet Dream” is about the thought of someone masturbating to you and what feelings come up when finding out about that, the second half on the other hand has a good handful of breakup songs that kind of dilute the Wet Leg impression. With that being said, Wet Leg is capable of writing relatable and strong songs, but at the same time, they have the capability of being lazy.
Production
I don’t know who produced this, but I would say that they did a solid enough job. There aren’t that many blemishes on this album but one thing I will say is that there aren’t that many times where a production trick turned my head around. One problem I have with Indie Rock production is that there isn’t that much ambition to it. Barely any reverb on the guitars, no rule-breaking, and most of the time, the most ambitious thing about the production is the way the guitarist puts their amp settings, and this album is an example of one of those albums.
Genre-Bending
Well, this could be considered an Indie Rock album but in all honesty, it might just be a Post-Punk record. Think about it this way. There might not be an emphasis on experimentation or any outlandish genre-bending, but the angular vibe is there. It has the more dancer side of post-punk with linear drum patterns and groovy bass lines. Other than that, there are some poppier songs as well as dreamier songs but in my opinion, this is a straightforward indie rock/post-punk record.
5/10
Predictability
I think at the tail end of this album, I just felt bored. I felt bored of listening to this album and it didn’t take me that long to get somewhat zoned out. There are parts of my notes where I ran out of things to say, which leads me to what I'm about to say. This album is an indie album that really might just stay as one
Verdict
Well…I hope that their next album comes soon and is so much better than this. I surely think Wet Leg has the potential to be a well-acclaimed indie band but at the moment, they have a lot of time to develop. It does come with its highlights and I will also say that there isn’t any song that is downright bad either. It’s just that most of the songs are just decent.
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