Hayden Thorpe - Moondust For My Diamond

Wild Beasts went about things the ‘right’ way, gradually building up a following with successively better (chart-performing, at least) albums and then, following in the footsteps of The Maccabees, announcing their disbandment at the peak of their career.

Both Tom Fleming and Hayden Thorpe have released solo compositions since, and between the pair of them have siphoned off elements of the band that work for them.

Yet neither could be accused of regurgitating their former band’s sound (relatively eclectic in itself) and indeed, on Thorpe’s second solo album he pushes his personal envelope even further.

While his debut Diviner was defined by austere fragility, Moondust For My Diamond finds Thorpe moving into more electronic directions, but rather than an immediate foray onto the dancefloor, it’s all about soothing balms and humanising the machine where possible.

‘It is interesting to note that perhaps with the Arab spring, the change in music and analogue modes of receiving information, it might be possible that the internet will bring in a new era in the ideas of spirituality, that is digital mysticism,’ Thorpe declared recently, which gives an insight into his headspace and works well as modus operandi for the album.

https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2021/10/review-hayden-thorpe-moondust/