Hayden Thorpe – Diviner review

One arguably of Britain’s most popular bands during the last decade, Wild Beasts split was both messy and drawn out, contractual reasons meaning that none of the quartet could talk publicly about it for over a year.

Having been together since they were teenagers each Beast Ot seemed had a different coping mechanism, but for singer Hayden Thorpe there was only one option: take a few months out and get lost in LA, a city in brashly direct contrast to the group’s origins in Cumbria.

Diviner isn’t a knee jerk reaction to anything, but one that Thorpe initially built in the simplest of terms, it’s composition done mostly at a piano in his home studio in East London.

The resulting songs are as you would expect from a writer who was always candid and emotionally working with heart on sleeve; stripped of the intricacy of the past, the present is clear, resonant and open. Sometimes if you love something you have to set it free – and Diviner is a powerful new beginning.

You can read the full review here.