This July, British indie rockers Wet Leg – founded by frontwoman Rhian Teasdale and lead guitarist Hester Chambers — dropped moisturizer, their sophomore full-length and follow-up to 2022’s charmingly crass and ineffably infectious self-titled debut (the first-ever UK number 1 album courtesy of an Isle of Wight act), both released courtesy of Domino (home to phriends of PHILTHY like Buscabulla, Flasher, Real Estate, SASAMI, and Upchuck.) SPIN called the debut, “a fresh, flirtatious and devilishly fun project — one of the most thrilling and singular rock albums released this year.”
moisturizer – unlike the previous full-length – has longtime touring musicians Ellis Durand (bass), Henry Holmes (drums), and Joshua Mobaraki (guitar, synth) joining the fold as official members of the band, and the results may actually top the debut… Upon its release, the sophomore LP was named Y-Not Radio’s CD of The Week, and tracks like “catch these fists,” “CPR,” “liquidize,” and “mangetout” have been in heavy rotation on the station (the home of Philthy Radio) ever since, with last week’s Top 11 @ 11 topped by “don’t speak,” a track which Y-Not’s Shepard Ritzen (in their CD of The Week review) proclaimed, “[features] ZZ Top shoegaze that builds to an Ex Hex hook.” (If you caught the latest edition of Philthy Radio, now streaming, you also heard the band’s now-classic, Mean Girls-inspired debut single that basically started it all.)
The last (and first) time we saw Wet Leg in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection was in March of 2022, when they headlined a sold-out Underground Arts (with our buddies Lowertown providing support). However, last week Teasdale and Chambers (and Durand, Holmes, and Mobaraki) kicked off the 19-stop north american moistourizer 2025 tour, which will find itself down the street from the Eraserhood venue this coming Monday, September 15th, at the nearly-three-times-capacity Franklin Music Hall, which, at 2,700-capacity, is actually a medium-sized venue for the jaunt. The shows thus far have featured more than 80% of moisturizer and two-thirds of the debut, along with the kind of rock n’ roll swagger we desperately need more of these days. While tickets for Franklin Music Hall are officially sold-out, there are “Official Resale” tickets for not much more than the original price.
In addition to their own music, earlier this year Wet Leg remixed “Walking Away From My Demons,” a fan favorite single from former Wet Leg tourmates — who opened Underground Arts for PHILTHY phriends Los Bitchos last September — Faux Real, a camp-and-synthesizer-driven art-pop duo comprised of Los Angeles-based Franco-American brothers Virgile and Elliott Arndt, who, in an official press release, say of their recent collab with Wet Leg, “Rhian’s deadpan verses play perfectly against the frantic energy of Josh’s nightcore rework, giving the clubby beat this cool confidence—‘I walk around my neighborhood, you’re looking down, I’m looking good’—like finally taking control over the title’s demons. Sometimes, the only way to shake off feelings of inadequacy is to just get up and go, however underprepared. Sow, reap, repeat.”
*Get your tickets here.
**Listen for Wet Leg’s debut single on the latest edition of Philthy Radio, now streaming.
