Two Dancers

The album begins with an ‘80s new wave-disco strut, the synths warming the streets for singer Hayden Thorpe, who, once unleashed, sings in a falsetto that swoops to a baritone and says the naughtiest things that come to mind. There’s a touch of German cabaret amongst the robotic rhythms and tight synthetic squeezes. Thorpe is — surprise, surprise — a drag queen. Two Dancers, the follow-up to the abrasive and challenging debut album, Limbo, Panto, tries to make its peace with the past, finding softer textures to bind these engrossing visions and dreams. Think a more muscular and defined version of Antony & The Johnsons. “Hooting & Howling” sounds like Interpol drop by for the choruses while Brian Eno’s ambient slides navigate the verses. “All the King’s Men” spends a night on the town rolling and tumbling with the ghosts of ‘70’s Roxy Music and David Bowie in tow. The title track in two parts sounds like it’s taken a cruise ship into spooked waters. Lush and imaginative, dark and danceable, Wild Beasts craft a world all their own.