The secret is out, the ruse over. WU LYF are a band, a living group of humans who release music like everyone else and sound like… well, what do they sound like? Regardless of their cloak-and-dagger beginnings – either an orchestrated marketing strategy or a smart move, depending on who you ask – WU LYF’s debut is unequivocally the sound of the most urgent and impassioned young band to emerge in the last few years. Don’t believe us? Then just listen to lead singer Ellery Roberts and his merry band tear their way through ‘We Bros’ – a great big bear hug of a song that, in a parallel universe, is challenging Oasis’ back catalogue for ‘Biggest Lads’ Anthem Ever’. Though you suspect that WU LYF will never quite reach that lager-swilling mass audience – they’re too odd for the Ben Sherman brigade. Roberts’ voice feels ripped apart, especially on slower songs ‘Dirt’ and ‘Concrete Gold’ which come off like a louche Wild Beasts with their top buttons undone, while ‘Go Tell Fire…’ – recorded in a disused church – has an almost transcendental feel. What they do is not too far from any number of straightforward bands, they just do it so much better and, ultimately, after all the intrigue and rumours, that’s all that truly matters…

David Renshaw