Wet Leg - Moisturizer

Indie Rock – Released July 11, 2025 – 12 songs, 38 mins

ROZ

I heard an excellent quote a few years back, and it goes like this: “You have your entire life to write your first album, and then a year to write your second”. It’s rather hard to imagine being a creative, pouring a lifetime of thoughts, feelings and experiences into a body of work, to then watch it grow legs and walk straight into an audience of insatiable fans and critical acclaim. What’s even harder to imagine is that feeling of dread as one realizes that they’ve tapped the keg and drank it dry. What do I do next? How do I compete with myself, and if I even get to a competitive level, what will my fans and peers think of it? What will they think of me? This sort of downward spiral is what I always keep in the back of my mind when going into an artist or bands sophomore record. As I’ve said in recent reviews, when a bar is set and a standard is placed It can be difficult to remove the tunnel vision and internal biases involved right before putting the needle to record. While I try my best to review with an objective lens I can’t help but find myself showing a huge amount of empathy from the opening bell. Ladies and gentlemen, in the words of the band itself – we’re so back. This is Wet Leg and their sophomore effort, Moisturizer.

English indie rock band Wet Leg was a trio when their 2022 self titled album Wet Leg and smash hit Chaise Longue touched the light of day. Before TSR was able to see the trio in a live setting while on their debut high, drummer Doug Richards split from the band. Be that as it may, remaining members Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers soldiered on, recruiting a touring musician line-up that consisted of Herny Holmes on the drums, Josh Mobarki on the rhythm guitar and keys, and finally Ellis Durand on the bass guitar. Through the nature of a grueling tour schedule and an undoubtably chaotic settling in process to their newfound situation (the original member never even had that chance to play live one before their album released - crazily enough), it was clear that the bond created became a solid one. So solid, in fact, that by the time the band got to recording their second album, the touring musicians became permanent fixtures of the ensemble. Rather than simply playing out the ideas of Teasdale and Chambers, all three would have their own input in the entire studio process – and it shows.

There’s typically always some sort of constant or control involved, and in this case it’s the bands producer, Dan Carey. Carey, a tenured artist in his own right who produced not only Wet Legs freshman album but also albums for the likes of Fontaines D.C., Heartworms and Caroline Polachek, brought his ‘A’ game to the studio just as he did before. Moisturizer doesn’t see Wet Leg stray too far from the stylings of its predecessor and from a quality standpoint the mixing sounds excellent – no simple feat for a band that navigates the softer performative style of Teasdale across a collection of wide, distorted soundscapes found in tracks such as CPR, Liquidize, Catch These Fists and Mangetout. Each song feels expanded by the skills and inputs of their very capable bandmates, as a new focus is put onto each member and their individual talents. Now, does this new development in their methods sacrifice some of that spark shown on their first album? Honestly, my answer is yes – not terribly, but it is still very much felt. Compared to their last album, additional breathing room can be seen in the form of more laid-back arrangements on song such as Davina McCall, Jennifer’s Body, Pokemon and 11:21. Lyrically and thematically, the albums lyrics reflect the love life of frontwoman Teasdale as she maneuvers through her relationship and pours it into her writing. Tracks Pond Song, Pokemon and 11:21 especially highlight the strong emotions that the young singer is experiencing in real time. This album is by and large a love album, after all – albeit with a sharper edge.

Moisturizer sees the Wet Leg duo open the door to their creative process, as they let touring musicians Holmes, Mobaraki, and Durand join the band in a more official capacity. While this decision results in a strong, collaborative sophomore effort from the band, I can’t help but feel that a few of those more distinctive traits from their debut were lost along the way. Here’s to hoping that I’m wrong in the long run.

Overall Rating: 8.1/10

Favourite Song: Pokemon

LUNDI

The highly anticipated follow up album seems to be the flavour of the year for us here at TSR and well, the results so far just haven’t been great. The likes of Turnstile, Japanese Breakfast, and Blondshell, among others, haven’t been bad per se but when you’re a darling of the blog, expectations are rightfully high. This week we set sights on another hyped follow up in effort to finally find 2025 artistic improvement with Wet Leg and their sophomore record moisturizer. Giddy up. 

Happiness, the nemesis of the artistic output. It’s been covered a time or two here at TSR but quite simply the seemingly better path to quality music is through a tortured soul. Sad but true. It’s not that the opposite can’t work but a happy writer, especially one that once previously struggled with monotony of life or aspects of it, is up against it for meeting or exceeding their earlier works. Long story long, Rhian Teasdale took exactly that leap on moisturizer, and while I personally can’t say the sweet tender love story works on me, her injection of raunch hilarity at least makes it feel fresh. In many ways her writing has actually improved drastically, honing her craft and presenting a collection of songs that are well thought out and ripe with tender emotion. There are a couple too many trope based songs for my liking and the album is noticeably void of the debut’s sarcasm and wit, but with the other portion of the album reading like an erotic novel we give credit where credit is due for a album that at a bare minimum leaves its mark on the listener. Still it’s hard for me from even the most objective analysis possible in music criticism to get to a point that this album lands as a lyrical improvement. Happiness put up a rare fight and came oh so close but once again finds itself on the losing end. 

Moisturizer certainty isn’t an overall losing cause for Teasdale though, as any perceived lyrical fall off is made up for by her growth as a front woman. She has rightfully taken the reins of being the primary focal point of the band with her immense personality and deviant character. Her posh attitude and myriad of vocal cadences present her as a next coming of Kate Bush or PJ Harvey, toeing the line of being desired and feared. Hester Chambers on the other hand has rescinded herself to a more complimentary support piece for Wet Leg which could not have been an easy decision even if it’s resulted in the betterment of the bands output. There’s a softer more anxious sode to her that has its place in music, but with the bodacious direction Wet Leg have taken this feels like another smart adaption by the group. 

A pivot that’s much more clearly a plus for Wet Leg is the expansion of the band from the originating female duo to a five piece outfit with their touring band of Josh Mobaraki, Ellis Durand and Henry Holmes being rightfully promoted to full time members. Kudos once again to Chambers and Teasdale for avoiding insulated satisfaction and dissecting their live show as something desirable to translate to future records. Wet Leg are grander and now sound like an in the pocket jam band having endless fun in the studio. As guitars and drums continue an ascension back to mainstream, Wet Leg are clearly fluid in finding and doing what works, even if it may be uncomfortable. And the formula chosen imost definitely works. There’s way more bite to this record with crunchy double guitars and drum lines filling every moment void of Teasdale’s oozing charisma. 

All in all moisturizer delivers a band that is a far departure from the one that broke out in 2022 displaying artistic courage from all angles. In ways their sophomore record feels like a damn near 180 but at the same time still grounded in the youth and adventure that made them so fun in the first place. Personal bias aside moisturizer is a big win for Wet Leg. 

Moisturizer sees Wet Leg pivot substantially from their unbridled debut success all the while avoiding the sophomore slump. It’s hard not to see the Isle of Wight outfit  becoming the biggest name in pop rock, if they’re not already it. 

Overall Rating: 8.0/10

Favourite Song: Mangetout

REID

Three years after they burst onto the scene with their critically acclaimed self-titled debut, Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers return with their highly anticipated sophomore album, moisturizer. The indie darlings stole TSR’s hearts with earworm hooks, snappy lyrics and an unexpected confidence from a duo from the outside looking in. Like Turnstile earlier this summer, this release comes with an expectation for growth and more of what fans fell in love with.

‘I’ve never been so deep in love’ sings Teasdale on pond song. These seven words are a microcosm of the theme of this record as it is filled to the brim with sappy love songs written by someone who is undeniably head over heels. Right away this is a stark contrast to their debut where the same sentiment was compared to ‘being punched in the guts’. Other than CPR, which describes the longing for someone as an inconvenience, the rest is on straight up infatuation. Dreaming of vacations (davina mccall), hiding jealousy (liquidize), incomparable feelings (pokemon), growing old together (don’t speak) and a near endless list of sexual inuendos highlight the tracklist.

Oftentimes the rawness of post-punk or indie rock genres is an insatiable quality of its own. For better or worse, moisturizer has a more polished sound than its predecessor. Luckily for fans, it doesn’t stray far from what made them successful. The catchy riffs and silly lyrics are there on catch these fists, mangetout, liquidize and u and me at home. davina mccall, pokemon and don’t speak lean into their messages of affection with laid back instrumentals and lyrics served by the angelic version of Rhian’s voice. 11: 21 strips it down entirely, moving at a snail’s pace for another intimate track. You get some garage/punk on CPR and stoner rock on pillow talk, two nice additions for variety to the soundscape. While they did hit the sweet spot once again with twelve songs over thirty-eight minutes, a few songs lack stand out qualities, ultimately resulting in similar sounding efforts. Their debut record set a very high bar and while they may not have met it, moisturizer is a quality addition to their catalog.

Wet Leg is happy, horny and love drunk on their sophomore effort. They diversify their sound but don’t lose their beloved quirkiness.

Overall Rating: 7.8/10

Favourite Song: Mangetout