July 2025 AOTM


Wet Leg - Moisturizer 

Tracks 12

Runtime 38mins

Favorite Tracks CPR, davina mccall, mangetout, pillow talk, 11:21

 

There’s been a bit of a renaissance this year in the world of art punk. The new albums by Lambrini Girls, Viagra Boys, DITZ, BAMBARA, and Model/Actriz have all taken wildly different spins on that classic punky noise and energy. Hot on their heels is Moisturizer, the new album by UK based band Wet Leg. Its indie rock twist on that punk rock style is endlessly danceable, endlessly catchy, and endlessly fun. 


The pacing of this album is perfect, to say the least. At 12 tracks with a 38minute runtime it lands right at that album length sweet spot, and it doesn’t waste a single moment. The opening track, CPR, is lead by this insane bass groove from the very first second that you just can’t help but dance to. Sitting at a comfortable 120 beats per minute it’s perfect for a bouncy power walk (it’s also the perfect bpm to do actual CPR to!). The bass keeps delivering again and again keeping the pulse alive through every track, making the sparingly used guitar lines hit so much harder. I also need to mention the synthesizer parts on this album. They’re used really sparingly, only in two tracks both in the back half of the album, but they add this floating 80s Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino era Arctic Monkeys feel. It’s unexpected enough to catch your ear and take you by surprise, but it doesn’t feel even slightly out of place. The instrumentation overall isn’t unconventional, but every piece is so well written and so exactly what it needs to be that it stands out nonetheless. 


The vocals are no exception to this either. Lead singer Rhian Teasdale’s voice is buttery smooth, even in the sections of the album where she is more talking than singing. Her propensity for higher register melody lines and skilled vocal control makes such a beautiful pairing not just with the smooth songs on the album but if anything even more so with the crunchy tracks. Pillow Talk, one of my favorites on the album, is lead by this tearing overdriven guitar riff reminiscent of the lead line of “You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire” by Queens of the Stone Age. On this track Teasdale is mostly speaking softly, mixed to sound like she’s whispering right in your ear, with only a few lines where she directly sings. Mixed with the driving guitar it builds this nervous excitement. It’s definitely the horniest song on the album by lyrics, but even if I didn’t understand the words she was saying it would still retain that title just on the raw energy her voice. It feels like a lover reaching slightly too far under your waistband in a slightly too public area, the nervous fear of being caught making everything feel twice as intense. 


Speaking of the lyrics, I adore the way they’re written. They’re lighthearted enough to reinforce that danceability, but never hollow. They share little vignettes about queer romance and being fed up with men which, as we know, are the two most fun things to sing about. Unapologetically horny with lines like “practicing my oragami, fold me over, hit the spot” right to honeymoon romantic lines like “I can say, ‘I love you’ just by looking in your eyes”. It’s a perfect reminder that not every album about queer romance needs to be earth shatteringly depressing. It can be soft, it can be raunchy, it can be so effortless. And it never fails to feel good singing along to the line “you wanna fuck me? I know most people do”. 


One of my favorite moments on the album was 11:21, the second to last track on the album, a ballad, and the only moment where moisturizer slows down. It’s a strange tone. The lyrics are in line with the rest of the album, another song about queer romance, but the song is oddly sad. It’s the same relationship but it’s slow and heartbreaking. It’s a gnawing yearning. It’s the feeling of being so enamored with someone that being apart from them is physically painful. This song is the perfect showcase of exactly who Wet Leg is, a reminder that if you take away that upbeat danceability, those punchy guitar riffs, what you are left with is still to its core a really stunning piece of songwriting. 


I heard someone say once that as queer people our mid 20s is when we get to have a real childhood, one where we’re free to do what we wanted to do all along, everything we missed out on. I feel like I never truly understood what they meant until I heard this album. Moisturizer is the album in the headphones of the coolest girl you know, it’s coming through the cracks in the door to your older sister’s room. It feels like being drunk and loud with your friends, the friends you feel untouchable with. It feels like driving in the summer with the windows down next to someone who just might be the love of your life. 


 

Other Albums from this month I enjoyed

Barry Can’t Swim - Loner

  • A super fun jazz house album for all times slow and fast

Pretty Bitter - Pleaser

  • Folky indie rock with a synth pop twist. Sounds like After Laughter by Paramore with a bit more banjo in all the best ways possible. 

Worlds Worst - American Muscle

  • If you’re a shoegaze fan and you liked Turnstile’s new album you’re gonna love this

Tyler, The Creator - DON’T TAP THE GLASS

  • It’s Tyler the creator lol of course it’s amazing the man doesn’t miss. The production goes truly crazy on this it’s so fun to dance to

Freddie Gibbs, The Alchemist - Alfredo 2

  • Easily the best dynamic duo in jazz rap and this album is a reminder

Quadeca - Vanisher, Horizon Scraper

  • It’s not really like anything else it’s super unique sounding. The instrumental arrangements on this are beautiful 

Pacing - PL*NET F*TNESS

  • Kimya Dawson fans will love this one the lyrics are so candid and so well written. 



Albums from previous months I missed

Owen - The Falls of Sioux

  • Ok I know this section is intended for albums from earlier this year that I liked and this album is from last year, but it’s so good I need to mention it. It’s Mike Kinsella’s side project (the lead singer from American Football) and anyone who knows me in person knows I never shut up about American Football. It features his same insane propensity for batshit insane open tunings, but on acoustic guitars giving it a much folkier country sound. The way Kinsella writes music is absolutely unfathomable to me and I love it so much.