984. Two Dancers - Wild Beasts

Quite how this band completely escaped my notice is beyond me; the only reasonable explanation is that I was listening to other music for the duration of 2009. Whilst self-evidently true, it is disappointing that I missed out on an arty British Indie band who have a falsetto singer and a penchant for not too subtle innuendo. Whilst this may allude to Queen, they certainly have a more modern sound than that parallel would imply.

Two Dancers, Wild Beasts' second album, was critically acclaimed, to the point of being on most magazines' best of 2009 album lists, and being Mercury Award nominated, Two Dancers sold in healthy rather than stellar numbers. Harking from Leeds, they never quite made the step to the mainstream that this album promised, where their local contemporaries Alt-J have gone on to global stadia filling tours. They are still producing albums to some acclaim, but they remain more cult classic than best-sellers.

The Fun Powder Plot has every element I look for in a song - a slow-building intro with each instrument joining in at regular intervals, a catchy riff, a falsetto singer, and a pun-based title. Ok, so I may be over-egging the pudding, but it really is an excellent start. The lyrics are pretty obscure in every sense of the word, but the separation on the recording works a treat, giving the track a feeling of magical coincidence that all of these elements should end up together. Hooting and Howling, the album's first single, took longer to grow on me, but was the chorus that most ended up on loop in my head. The percussion alone is superb, but is more than supported by the strong vocal variety from Hayden Thorpe, leading to a wonderfully meandering song. All the King's Men features a cracking refrain complete with a list of girls from slightly obscure British towns, creating the image of a slightly desperate Lothario (Chloe's term, not mine). When I'm Sleepy is a more overtly sexual track, with strongly suggestive lyrics, and a sultry melody. We Still Got the Taste Dancin' on our Tongues is probably the most complete song on the album, with wonderfully chiming guitars placing it somewhere between Bloc Party and Arcade Fire. Two Dancers (i) is an ominous track that overtly moves away from the more upbeat earlier tracks, and the follow up track takes the pace down a step further. This is Our Lot has a real insistence to it, with an urgency sometimes lacking elsewhere; the bridge near the end is one of the best moments on the album. Underbelly is a bit too lightweight for me, though it'll probably be a decent lullaby to play for the baby, as long as I remember to cut it off before the drums of Empty Nest kick in. Chloe really liked this song, but for me it lacks the big chorus that it hints at. Through the Iron Gate takes some Stone Roses-esque swirling guitars, and combines them with a pounding drumline, that sounds pretty good, until the album loops back into the opener, and you realise how much better this band can sound.

When listening to the album, I can't not think of Alt-J; the guitar sound, the arty feel to the compositions, the slightly surreal lyrics - they are remarkably similar. A couple of days in, I thought that I would end up loving this album, but it didn't really push on from there as I'd hoped. It's very good, and there are some sublime moments, but it just doesn't do enough to grab your attention throughout. Whilst there is clear variety in elements of the songs, the overall sound doesn't change much over the entire songlist, and the falsetto can wear a little bit thin, though it is done well. The good songs are good enough to carry the rest of the album, but it hints at something that could have been even more.

Chloe's album rating: 6

Chloe's favourite track: 10. Empty Nest

Olly's album rating: 7

Olly's favourite track: 5. We Still Got the Taste Dancin' on Our Tongues

Next week is our earliest album yet - 28. Muddy Waters at Newport; I'll leave you to work out the artist.