Wild Beasts are weirdos. In a deliciously macabre, fascinatingly quaint way, the Leeds-based quartet - averaging an age of 21, if reports are to believed - seem like the type of young men that frequent the Reptile Room of their local zoo, are obsessed with Jack the Ripper folklore, and have a habit of speaking only in Dickensian dialect. Whether those assumptions are true or not is irrelevant, though; whatever their hobbies, Wild Beasts have slung forth one of the most exciting debuts of the year so far.

The latter half of Limbo, Panto's title is an apt description of what's contained within; there's a thick vein of theatrics running through this album, even though its heart beats pure pop - and while frontman Hayden Thorpe's beautiful vocals have been most often compared to Antony Hegarty (they do share the same idiosyncratic nasal warble), you wouldn't catch Hegarty singing lines like "When I'm utter putty, I'm wetblanketfully lay lumpen / I feel red hot heart's heat beneath left teat a thumpin'".

With lyrics that require scrutiny, but aren't clever-clever, Thorpe's mastery of songwriting is made even more apparent by his band's soundtrack - a mixture of dreamy, lilting '80s pop (Woebegone Wanderers' bassline is straight out of an Orange Juice song, and the clinking, chugging The Devil's Crayon references Tears for Fears at times), Tom Waits-meets-Merlin at Stonehenge (The Club of Fathomless Love), and glamorous, folky pop, best showcased on Cheerio Chaps, Cheerio Goodbye.

Wild Beasts are, thankfully, a total bunch of weirdos - weirdos who are making truly clever, truly individual pop music. Don't let this brilliant demonstration of it slip under your radar.

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