Kendal/Leeds-based band Wild Beasts play an exclusive two-day residency at The Old Market in Hove to mark the announcement of new album ‘Boy King’ – their most personal and direct to date, with a dark and apocalyptic take on the human psyche. The unmistakable combination of Hayden Thorpe’s rich falsetto and refreshingly arcane lyrics, coupled with Tom Fleming’s complementary baritone vocals, define their original, surreal sound.

After releasing their debut single ‘Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants’ in 2006, Wild Beasts have gone on to release four critically acclaimed albums, ‘Limbo, Panto’, ‘Two Dancers’ (nominated for a Mercury Prize), ‘Smoother’ and ‘Present Tense’. The latter was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award, acknowledging the exceptional songwriting and consistency throughout the album.

This year they return with their new album ‘Boy King’, a marked change from the optimistic aesthetics of 2014’s ‘Present Tense’, falling somewhere between the soulful pop of Justin Timberlake and the industrial grit of Nine Inch Nails. “On the last day of making Boy King I had a minor breakdown in knowing what part of myself I was revealing. It’s a bit ugly, a bit grubby, arrogant,” says Thorpe, reflecting on the recording of their most revealing album to date.

Wild Beasts will be supported by Throws, a British duo residing in Reykjavik, whose home studio overlooks the old industrial harbour. Old guitars and a battered, off-key piano are all they need to take their otherworldly pop wherever the wind may take them. Their self-titled debut album, released June 10th, features special guests including múm and Sigur Rós.

The Old Market, Thursday 28th – Friday 29th 2016
Get tickets here