'Burning' - Wild Beasts, Manchester Sound Control, 6/12/2012 (as published in Counterfeit Magazine)
Wild Beasts’ Hayden Thorpe once compared being the biggest band from Kendall to being like ‘the biggest fish to be caught in a teapot.’ Tonight, they are a gargantuan shark in a polythene bag, grown faster and leaner than anyone could have expected. With a performance of their stunning third record Smother looming that weekend at ATP festival, this intimate date in Manchester is a chance for them to practice in public, and allow their home audience to celebrate their evolution.
Before Manchester Sound Control is pushed to its peak, Gwilym Gold beckons his audience closer, creating an almost biblical atmosphere with his artful pop, performing as delicately as if his piano was balanced on a tripwire. The crowd are attentive, arty sorts, so sedate and polite that security settles in for an easy night, pulling himself up a chair and whipping his iPhone out, presumably to score a quick round of angry birds. Blending audible inspiration of Thom Yorke’s solo material with tinges of Perfume Genius and King Krule, Gwilym makes the best kind of electronic music, soulful and sad, like walking through a deserted city at night. Hidden behind Wild Beasts intricate keyboard setup which is already in place, he appears as a disembodied head, only adding to the eeriness emanating from his deft fingers. He leaves in a timely manner, not outstaying his welcome, but leaving enough of an impression for you to note down his name.
Seeing your favourite album performed live is always going to be something special. It’s even more special when it is a band you've seen develop exponentially over the years, their songwriting unfurling and sprawling into mastery. Tonight, Wild Beasts are a band untameable, so in charge of their powers that it is often overwhelming to watch them at work.
Wine supped dry and Smother packed away with closer End Come Too Soon, the party begins. Wild Beasts return to the stage with The Fun Powder Plot and The Devils Crayon, two older tracks that seem oddly upbeat in comparison to what has come in the hour before. With the news that they are back in Leeds recording a new album which they promise will return to a more playful state of mind, the future is bright. They may just be able to get away with a show this size now, but it is surely a matter of time before academies of people hear their roar.
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