Wild Beasts

Wild Beasts formed in Kendal, Cumbria in 2002, Hayden Thorpe, Tom Fleming, Ben Little, and Chris Talbot developing a sound rooted in art rock and indie rock that was immediately distinctive and unlike anything else in British music. Thorpe's falsetto vocals were extraordinary — ethereal, expressive, and capable of remarkable emotional range — and the band's music combined melodic beauty with a lyrical sophistication that set them apart from virtually everything else in contemporary British indie.

'Two Dancers' (2009) was their breakthrough — a Mercury Prize-nominated record of extraordinary melodic beauty that produced 'Hooting & Howling' and 'The Fun Powder Plot'. 'Smother' (2011) was their masterpiece — a record of extraordinary emotional depth and melodic beauty that earned universal critical acclaim. 'Present Tense' (2014) and 'Boy King' (2016) showed the band's continued evolution.

Wild Beasts dissolved in 2018 following their farewell tour. They are remembered as one of the most distinctive and important British acts of the 2010s — a band whose combination of extraordinary vocal interplay, melodic beauty, and lyrical sophistication produced music of lasting importance that deserves the widest possible audience.