Hayden Thorpe
Hayden Thorpe @ The Green Door Store, Brighton, UK, 30th March 2022,
Apr 05, 2022 Web Exclusive Photography by Andy Robbins
Wild Beasts were one of the most unique sounding bands of recent times. With each album they steered their ship on a slightly different course from the last, but always revelling charming British colloquialisms to convey tales of small-town violence and risqué encounters. And then they stopped. Called it quits. Shut up shop. In their own words, it felt like the end came too soon.
Subsequent solo releases by former members Hayden Thorpe and Tom Fleming (as One True Pairing) have so far triumphantly dissected and captured different sides of the Wild Beasts sound. Yet it feels unjust that the momentum which saw the band gloriously bow out at Hammersmith Apollo seems to have been lost.
Thorpe now gingerly weaves onto a cramped stage, dodging between amps, keyboards and guitars, dressed in a white embroidered suit and sparkly black top. It’s a style that looks as inspired as much by East London fashionistas as it does the livestock judges from an agricultural show. Maybe it just reflects the place he’s found himself in, having waved farewell to the capital to returned to his Cumbrian roots in the heart of England’s glorious Lake District during the pandemic.
That unmistakable countertenor voice remains incomparable, but Thorpe’s music now feels more personal. The swooning grooves of “Parallel Lines”, “Metafeeling” and the sublime “No Such Thing” from latest album Moondust For My Diamond sound loose-limbed and supple. He still captures an enthralling intensity, but without the brooding anxiety over “brutes in bovver boots” as referenced in his past.
As Thorpe’s backing band efficiently bulk-up his live sound, he strums at the collection of electric guitars he drapes over his shoulder to accompany his dreamy voice. However, it is when they depart, leaving him alone at his keyboard for debut album highlights “Diviner” and “Love Crimes”, that his star shines brightest.
Times change but, on this form, it still feels like Hayden Thorpe is a man who can do no wrong.
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