This month, Gay City News turns its ears towards new music by queer Colombian-Canadian singer/songwriter Lido Pimienta and a deluxe edition of indie rockers Wet Leg’s latest album.
Wet Leg | “Moisturizer (deluxe edition)” | Domino | July 10
It’s only possible to be a hot new artist once. Back in 2022, Wet Leg burst onto the scene with their first single, “Chaise Longue.” Their debut album hit #1 in the U.K. and #12 in the U.S. Their most popular song, “Wet Dream,” now sits at 190 million Spotify streams. Since its release, the band has undergone a few changes. Initially a duo, they’ve expanded to a five-piece. Singer/guitarist Riann Teasdale had thought of herself as heterosexual till she fell in love with a woman in 2022. She now identifies as queer.
When “Chaise Longue” debuted, Wet Leg were hit with the industry plant accusations Geese are now facing. Truthfully, no one’s first single becomes a hit without a substantial amount of money promoting it. In its entire history, Domino Records has only rolled out the carpet like this for two other bands: Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys. But this debate has nothing to do with their music’s quality, and Wet Leg have retained an audience rather than fading away quickly.
A deluxe edition of their second album, “Moisturizer,” originally released it, offers a chance to look back on their brief evolution. Wet Leg’s songs are designed as construction kits. Many start with stripped-down verses, built on bass, drums and rhythm guitar. They are canny about adding a synthesizer or additional guitar to a chorus to enhances its momentum.
“Moisturizer” was made in the wake of Teasdale falling in love. While remarkably sweet, the lyrics are more mature than the cheeky double entendres of “Chaise Longue.” “liquidize” gushes with oxytocin, as Teasdale sings “how did I get so lucky to be loving you?” Teasdale’s current relationship with a non-binary person is part of the album’s blissed-out spirit. Speaking to Variety, she opined “queer love in particular is so interesting to me, because there’s no blueprint for it.” Even darker situations become an occasion for triumph. On “catch these fists,” Teasdale confronts men who try to pick her up, telling them “I don’t want your love/I just want to fight.”
This deluxe edition extends “Moisturizer” with several demos, four live-in-the-studio recordings and three remixes.
The Dare brings rubbery bass to “mangetout,” falling prey to indie sleaze nostalgia. horsegiiRL make something quite new from “CPR,” improving on the original. Isolating the word “suicide” and editing Teasdale’s voice into a endlessly stuttering glitch gives it a new degree of gravity. FDC DJs add to the punch of “catch these fits,” contributing a waterfall of synthesizers.
Some of the suspicion aimed at Wet Leg may come from the fact that they’ve had so much success in an era when rock is commercially marginal in the U.S. If they’re not the current British indie rock scene’s most innovative band, “moisturizer” confirms they’re the one whose music’s rewards sink in most quickly.
Lido Pimienta | “Caribenya” | Anti- | July 17
Lido Pimienta has been reticent to release too much music, insuring she has something new to offer each time out. Although she’s only dropped five albums since her 2010 debut “Color,” “Caribenya” is a quick follow-up to last year’s “La Belleza.” Originally meant as a coda, it ended up taking a different road. Pimienta took on a major challenge with “La Belleza,” recreating her music under the influence of Gregorian chant. Despite its similarity of “La Belleza” to Rosalia’s “Luz,” one of last year’s most acclaimed albums, it only received a fraction of the attention. “Caribenya” is far poppier, loaded with bright synthesizers and grand hooks. Its spiritual home is a beach in the summer, prior to climate change. The family-reunion visual for “Toxica,” shot in Pimienta’s native Colombia, embodies this spirit. Her broad influences are incorporated into the title of “Caribenya.” Enya’s never made music this danceable, but Pimienta identifies with her for prioritizing her own life and making music only on her terms.
Even the most relaxed songs on “Caribenya” speak as loudly as they can. Pimienta has a flair for drama, gripping each note with her voice. She also uses percussion as a textural element, well beyond merely keeping the beat. “Caribenya” retains some of the symphonic structure of “La Belleza,” but makes it work in 4-minute pop songs. “No Me Quiero Ir” contains her most passionate singing, as well as drums played backwards. “Toxica” waves a gracious but definitive goodbye to a friend Pimienta has expelled from her life. “Libélula” adds flute, timbales and maracas, as she finds a model of liberation in nature. It arrives at the peace “Toxica” tried to find. “Talento” situates itself at the border of house music and synth-pop.
In “Talento,” Pimienta laments having “a talent for getting played and getting taken for granted.” While Latin art pop is finding a increasingly large audience, Pimienta hasn’t fully benefited from the wave outside Canada. Her African and indigenous heritage are key to her music, but racism may have kept some doors shut for her. (She’s the first woman of color to compose a score for the New York City Ballet.) “Caribenya” confirms her prodigious talent. It’s also loaded with potential hits.
