When Hester Chambers was in center college, she wrote in her yearbook that she needed to be one among two issues: a tattoo artist—or in a band.
It turned out to be prescient. In late 2020, a couple of week earlier than Moist Leg, the band she shaped in 2019 together with her good friend Rhian Teasdale, signed to Domino Information, Chambers, 28, inked a water droplet stuffed in with a smiley face on Teasdale’s leg. They have been nonetheless satisfied the deal may fall by, so the tattoo was a reminder: “No matter occurs, we’ll nonetheless carry on doing this—even when Domino do come to their senses and are like, ‘Hah!’” Teasdale, 29, mentioned lately over video chat.
The deal, nonetheless, didn’t fall by. As an alternative, over the previous yr—for the reason that launch of their first single, the witty, wordplay-dense “Chaise Longue,” final June—Moist Leg has develop into one of the crucial talked-about rising bands on the planet; their forthcoming album (out Friday), one of the crucial anticipated. With simply 5 singles launched, they’ve bought out exhibits in New York, Los Angeles, and London and carried out on a lot of the main late-night exhibits. The style trade has, notably, taken discover of Moist Leg—Saint Laurent tapped the band to carry out at its pre-Oscars occasion. At a March live performance in New York, I noticed a cluster of followers within the entrance row carrying lobster claws, which characteristic prominently in the music video for “Wet Dream,” the band’s equally sly second single.
Moist Leg, the album, opens with “Being in Love,” a standout that units the tone for the file. “The world is caving in and I’m sort of struggling,” Teasdale sings over a fuzzed-out guitar, “however I sort of prefer it ’trigger it appears like being in love.” They’ve mentioned they needed their songs to be enjoyable and humorous (“Chaise Longue” encompasses a “Imply Women” reference and the lyric “on the chaise longue” repeated an incalculable variety of instances), however the music can be shot by with a strand of disillusionment—a dissatisfaction with the way in which issues are, be it a poisonous romance or the straightforward want to go residence from a celebration. “I see a previous model of myself within the lyrics,” Teasdale mentioned. “It’s like a snapshot in time.”
Moist Leg appeared to emerge totally shaped final summer season, because of their acerbic lyrics and cohesive cottagecore-meets-punk visible aesthetic. Teasdale and Chambers each grew up on the Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England (inhabitants: 142,296), and studied music on the college there. They every labored on solo music initiatives after graduating, however by the point they joined as much as begin Moist Leg, they’d largely deserted their aspirations of creating it as touring musicians. Teasdale had discovered a brand new calling as a wardrobe assistant for commercials and music movies; Chambers was working at her household’s jewellery enterprise. Moist Leg was alleged to be a aspect mission, only for enjoyable. “It’s sort of humorous,” Teasdale mentioned, “as quickly as we stopped making an attempt to make something out of [our] music, we bought actually busy with it.”
Moist Leg performs on stage at SWG3 on September 1, 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Picture by Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns
They started writing “Chaise Longue” in December 2019, simply a few months at the beginning shut down. Then, through the top of the pandemic, they discovered a supervisor, signed their file contract, and wrote and recorded their album. The lockdowns continued, and Chambers and Teasdale needed to work on one thing productive, so that they determined to direct, shoot, and edit the music video for “Chaise Longue” themselves. However because the band has taken off, and its members have gotten busier, they’ve ceded some artistic management; they directed “Moist Dream” with the assistance of a small manufacturing workforce, and the newest video, for “Ur Mum,” was directed by their good friend, the musician and artist Lava La Rue. La Rue, 23, attributed a part of the specificity of their sound and look to their origins on the Isle of Wight: “There’s one thing very particular that they spent a variety of time on this island,” they mentioned. “That brings a refreshing sort of perspective on their music and their style.”
Blowing up has offered alternatives; within the fall, Moist Leg will open for Florence and the Machine throughout a handful of enviornment exhibits. However holding in contact with family and friends again residence whereas they’re on the highway has been powerful, Teasdale mentioned. So has discovering new, trusted collaborators to take over a few of the issues they’re accustomed to doing themselves.
“It’s a little bit of a circus, isn’t it?” she went on. “Once we began the band, we didn’t take into consideration interviews and photoshoots and the whole lot that goes together with it. That’s been…” Chambers lower in: “That’s been powerful. However the most effective issues is that though there’s a number of enormous scary stuff, we’re not alone. I’ve Rhi, and we have now the band. It’s good help.” Teasdale agreed. “It’s actually, actually key in holding it enjoyable.”
