“Chaise Longue” may have been the runaway hit that got things rolling, but every song they’ve released has been pretty great, from the series of clever videos like “Angelica,” “Oh No,” “Too Late Now” and “Wet Dream,” and “Ur Mum.” Videos for half the albums tracks shows some ambition there. Point being that it’s unlikely Wet Leg heard them or were influenced by them, but I find both enjoyable for similar reasons. For some reason, listening to Wet Leg inspired me to reach for The Casual Dots, who’s sole 2004 album on Kill Rock Stars was lost to obscurity (it was briefly on Bandcamp but was since erased from the digital multiverse), despite featuring Christina Billotte of Slant 6/Autoclave and Kathi Wilcox of Bikini Kill. Yes, there’s a lot of bands where humor, pop and post-punk intersect.
NPR created a playlist of 69 potential influences. A touch of sexual frankness like Au Pairs’ “Come Again” and Liz Phair’s “Fuck and Run,” the unstable fragility of early Breeders constantly on the verge of boiling over, and the delicacy of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s torch ballads. Wet Leg start with a leg up in their roots in spindly, feminist post-punk like The Slits and The Raincoats, who had their own witty observations of mundane acts like grocery shopping (“Fairytale in the Supermarket,” “Shoplifting,”). It’s a feat thousands have failed at miserably. The ability to craft songs that are genuinely funny is no joke.
Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers started the Wet Leg project in 2019 with the idea that they’d focus on just being silly. While it might seem that Wet Leg spontaneously appeared a year ago with their viral hit “Chaise Longue,” a couple of rookie musicians who just learned their instruments, they’ve been kicking around in other bands and solo projects for many years. Van Dorston Debut full-length from Isle of Wight indie pop/post-punk duo lives up to the promise of their singles.
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