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British indie rock band Wet Leg’s sophomore album “moisturizer”, stylized in all lower caps much to the chagrin of the spell check system, is their follow-up to the explosive self-titled debut that garnered them a solid fanbase, as well as a good amount of industry plant accusations (but honestly who isn’t these days). Having always been a subscriber of the if-it-hits-it-hits doctrine, I couldn’t care less if their “indie cred” was genuine or not. The fact is that I enjoyed their debut well enough (even though I somehow never reviewed it for some reason) for the catchy, tongue-in-cheek lyrics and the charismatic vocal delivery of Rhian Teasdale, even if flat or thin vocals are usually not my favorite, but it works for their signature brand of performative brattiness and underlying juvenile malaise. 

“moisturizer” continues the off-kilter, quirky style that defined their sound right out the gate. That is to say, this probably isn’t going to convert anyone who didn’t already kind of like their debut. For me, I knew I would probably like this one from their first two singles for this album rollout – “CPR” and “catch these fists”, bouncy, speak-singing indie rock – this time with more confident lyrical delivery and harder rock instrumentals. Where in one of the more notable singles off the debut “Ur Mum”,  Rhian would softly whisper snippy disses about a lover that jilted her, “catch these fists” has Rhian confidently – and even kind of angrily – proclaiming “I don’t want your love, I just wanna fight”. 

Perhaps this confidence stems from the overall more hopeful vibe of the album. Where the debut focused on anger and disappointment over a failed relationship/situationship, “moisturizer” seems to exist in that space of giddiness and bravado that exists in the anticipation of a new relationship when you haven’t completely moved on from past disappointments. Nowhere is this more clear than the opener “CPR” where “Is it love or suicide?” repeats in Rhian’s signature speak-singing over blaring siren sounds until the song crescendos into Rhian proudly proclaiming “I’m in love!” to a 911 operator over crashing drums. 

This sort of gooeyness carries over to the rest of the album, as many of the tracks are pretty much love songs. This is also sort of the crux of my problem with the album, as Wet Leg seems to be at their best when they’re willing to get weird. Even though there’s more boldness on display here, I kind of missed the overt brattiness of the debut that seems to have been replaced by the love jitters here.

Maybe its because I just didn’t find the expressions of love that compelling here. The obvious affection for the new subject of romantic interest lends itself to more sentimental lyrics, and not the biting sarcasm that made the debut so fun to listen to, not helped by how a lot of the love-centric tracks seemed to rely on a similar structure of mumble singing over rather generic indie rock instrumentals.

The few notable exceptions being the aforementioned singles and “mangetout”, a fun diss track that isn’t that special but is so incredibly catchy that I still have it regularly on rotation since its sound waves entered my cochleas on release – all of these being my favorite tracks of this album. But the deliriously horny “pillow talk”, whilst being clearly about this new relationship that seems to be the subject of the album, is also pretty solid as it shows a more feral, energetic side to the band.

Oh well, perhaps it says more about me that I generally prefer the more sarcastic tracks over the love songs.

In spite of all that, I maintain that “moisturizer” is a refinement of all the ideas present in debut, which bodes well for the band’s artistic development. I’d describe it as a very solid indie project, though I wish it maintained more of the debut’s awkward, off-kilter fun.

Best Track(s): “CPR”, “mangetout”, “Catch These Fists”, “pillow talk”

Rating: 7.5/10