Rhian Teasdale, Hester Chambers & the Band

As she sits in a hotel in North Carolina, some 4,000 miles from home, Rhian Teasdale is listing what she misses about London: a beloved coffee spot, seeing creative types “milling about everywhere,” Japanese food, feeding squirrels in a local park. “Oh, my God,” the Wet Leg frontperson says in a soft, yawning drawl. “There’s just so many things.”

Over the past few years, Teasdale has grown to embrace the slow mornings and simple comforts that come with being a homebody, and Moisturizer, Wet Leg’s bright, celestial second album, captures small-hours moments, sofa snogs and falling into the buoyant daze of doing nothing all day. Some songs are imbued with the trippy delirium of Le Tigre or The B-52s, others with the angsty drive of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, for a collection defined by a sneakily virtuosic pop sensibility.

“London has given me a new level of ambition and it’s an amazing city, but, you know, my heart belongs to a West Londoner, which gives me real reason to stick around,” Teasdale says. She lets out a gentle sigh. “Home is where my partner is.”

These may seem like humble beginnings for one of the year’s most anticipated rock albums, but Moisturizer, which Domino released in July, finds quiet strength in learning how to flow with life’s natural rhythms. After the breakout success of Wet Leg’s Grammy Award-­winning self-titled 2022 debut — and the years spent on the road touring behind it — Teasdale wanted to write about coming back down to earth and choosing to live in blissful obscurity. One of her greatest joys is contemplating the promise of a day off spent with her partner: Will they watch a movie? Order takeout? Ride the bus to nowhere in particular?

Read the full Wet Leg Billboard cover here.