limbo, panto - wild beasts

Imagine a bastard child of the Associates and Orange Juice, throw in a dictionary and tales of furtive goings on and you are close to imagining the sound of Wild Beasts.  The song titles are a delight in themselves, the imaginatively entitled 'Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants' with its catchy (if a mouthful) refrain and the evocative 'She purred while I grrred ' tells you all you need to know... finally a band with an acute sense of the absurd arrives to brighten a turgid offering from over-hyped indie miseries and 80s copyists.  Because for all their subtle similarities there is something new and exciting afoot.... so the Associates link is not lazily made to referencing singer Hayden's operatic yearnings but as a context for the oblique lyrics and obscure sense of humour that is demonstrated (of course there has been bands since but I fail to remember any at the present moment), such beauties as 'take these chips with cheese / as an offering of peace' and perhaps the most arresting as it floats across a crowded field, sung in all seriousness.  Lilting guitars and the deeper richness of bassist Tom's voice combine to create a sublimity rightly championed by Steve Lamacq amongst others, for, above all, how could a band not be loved for such lines as 'I swear by my own cock and balls'?  It is unfathomable.