Photo by Klaus Thymann

As haunted coldwave synths and lo-fi drums echo throughout Wild Beasts' new single "Wanderlust", Hayden Thorpe introduces the band's first song in nearly three years by cooing, "We are decadent beyond our means." Makes sense: by 2011's Smother, Wild Beasts' sensuous art-funk had been pared down to such a pinpoint exactitude that anything short of an a cappella album would sound like a shift towards opulence.

Wild Beasts have always involved themselves in all matters of lust and the opening track from their new LP Present Tense does sound like a return to the swinging, libertine lyricism of earlier singles like "All The King's Men" and "Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants", Thorpe defining the title by rhyming, "Where does the world feel voluptuous?" But that's all a feint for the subtle essentialism at work on this slow burner, where Wild Beasts rid themselves of their guitars and figuratively cut strings with a mantra of bristling minimalism: "Don't confuse me with someone who gives a fuck."