ALBUM REVIEW: Hayden Thorpe – Moondust for My Diamond

Domino

Released: 15.10.21

Hayden Thorpe’s new album is presented as a conscious effort to return to nature and look to the cosmos. The aspiration is geared towards a Big Sensual Energy; and broadly it’s successful. Drawing from a similar sonic palette to the more polished later Wild Beasts material, it’s arguably one of the most laconic records he has ever been a part of.

Sometimes this doesn’t quite hit the spot; recent single Metafeeling comes and goes without making much impact, but the forays into the jittery electronica of Rational Heartache really appeals. Thorpe’s gorgeous caramel falsetto is front and centre, but if anything it seems to emphasise what is missing. Wild Beasts were an essential group because of their carnal urgency. Here, that’s almost absent.