Wet Leg – ‘Moisturizer’ review: love, lust and levelling up

“Would you still love me if I was a worm?” asks a popular meme. For Wet Leg on their second album ‘Moisturizer’, this question isn’t about whether you’re worthy of love – rather, they’re more worried about becoming that perfect invertebrate for their partner. “So many creatures in the fucking world,” Rhian Teasdale ponders. “How could I be your one? / Be your marshmallow worm?”

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It’s this combination of pure romance and surrealist streak that reigns on ‘Moisturizer’. The Isle Of Wight band’s acclaimed self-titled debut made them stars, taking them around the world and winning them Grammys and BRITs on the strength of songs that cheekily skewered shitty men in their orbit. Now, Wet Leg have officially expanded from the core duo of Teasdale and guitarist Hester Chambers to include guitarist Josh Mobaraki, bassist Ellis Durand and drummer Henry Holmes. Their follow-up trades its predecessor’s sharp kiss-offs for gooey, horny and downright giddy portrayals of love that often teeter on the absurd.

Inspired largely by Teasdale falling in love – in her first queer relationship – in 2021, ‘Moisturizer’ is less barbed and more doe-eyed than what came before. “You know that I would / Do anything for you,” she coos on the swooning ‘Davina McCall’. “It’s like a dream come true / Every day is spent trying to say something to make you smile.” Later, on the soft, swirling grunge of ‘Don’t Speak’, she describes her partner as “the rock to my roll / You’re the sand between my toes / Sweet baby girl, we go like salsa and Doritos”.

But not all of ‘Moisturizer’ is so stomach-flippingly head-over-heels. Rumbling opener ‘CPR’ finds the singer and guitarist on a self-destructive streak, jumping “off the cliff because you told me to”. “Is it love or suicide?” she wonders seconds later, her tone in her voice somewhere between unbothered and conflicted. Elsewhere, things get pretty lusty, the bruising, brittle crunch of ‘Pillow Talk’ a ferocious explosion of desire. “I can make you sticky / Make you hot screaming for after sun,” Teasdale purrs. “I can make you beg / Can make you wet like an aquarium.”

As loved up as Wet Leg might be on their second album, some shitty men still linger on the periphery. Lead single ‘Catch These Fists’ details Teasdale’s night out after a Chappell Roan show being ruined by a guy on the chirpse, while the twanging ‘Mangetout’ blazes with hatred – and killer lines. “You say you’re lost at sea / Call the RNLI,” Teasdale spits at one point. “You’re washed up, irrelevant and standing in my light.”

Not everything on ‘Moisturizer’ lands as well as you might hope. The imagery and terminology in the lyrics can get repetitive in places – there’s a lot of dreaming and more than one description of someone as both “sweet” and “sour”. ’11:21’, too, brings down the record’s final throes – it attempts to change up the dynamics and pace, but goes too slow and sultry, ending up more dirge-like than anything.

After the whirlwind that was Wet Leg’s debut album, it would have been easy for the band to capitulate under the pressure or just play it safe and remake that record. But on their second effort, they’ve evolved into a smarter, sexier and altogether stronger creature. Would we still love Wet Leg if they turned into a worm? With this album under their belts, the answer is undoubtedly yes.

Details

• Release date: July 11, 2025
• Record label: Domino

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