"I like the feeling of being this little unit against the world… having a core that is unassailable.”

Tom Fleming is discussing his band’s place in the universe.

“I think that in a lot of ways we are a traditional band – it’s the Beatles model. But at the same time, we don’t want to instruct what a band should be.

We do make some attempt to deconstruct that, by taking the band and the songwriter away – democratise it a bit and introduce the machine.”

Many will know Wild Beasts from the Mercury Music Prize nomination they received in 2010 for their sophomore release Two Dancers. An intelligent, beat-driven album wrapped in lead singer Hayden Thorpe’s falsetto lead vocals, it wears its literary influences on its sleeve and speaks candidly of art and sex.

“I think sex, power and what is does to you is very important. It’s not as bad as it was, but we had a lot of spineless, wet indie bands and I think that it was important we had a bit of grit and gut,” says Fleming.

“If people call us camp and fey and such, it’s like, ‘Hang on a minute, have you even listened to the album?’ It was making a point that – as we’ve always done – there is only a veil between the fey art band and that blunt northern-ness.

“That’s our take on it. I go on about writers a lot, people who write this prose and then say something incredibly bluntly sexual.”

For their third outing, Smother, the literary references remain, but the band have ditched the up-tempo vibe for a stripped-down, vulnerable piece of work which they describe as “ten love songs”.

“Two Dancers is a lot more drum-centred, while Smother is about atmosphere. That’s as much by accident as anything, it’s just what we had to hand and what we were writing on. There was a conscious attempt to slow down, quiet down and take a step back from making rock music,” Fleming says.

“In terms of songwriting, it was a change of perspective in where we were as people. It was a reflection of what we were listening to – a lot of minimalist stuff and synth stuff. Those kind of longer textures. In a lot of ways, the album is quite ambient, but they are still quite concise songs. We were doing miniature epics.”

They are a prolific bunch. Debut album Limbo, Panto was released in 2008, Two Dancers followed in 2009 and Smother was released earlier this year.

“I’m never one to go with the myth of creation, the myth of genius. We are a working band, but at the same time you need to create the conditions for that to happen. As much as anything you are required to work hard to have any kind of success at all,” Fleming says.

“The best way to keep artistically sound is to keep working, and not to get lazy. The frustrating thing is that even now there’s stuff I’m hearing that I want to incorporate, but it’s going to sound old hat when we actually get round to writing new material.”

The band are intent on not “dumbing” their music down now that relative mainstream success is on their doorstep and newspapers such as The Sun, rather than cult website The Quietus, are running reviews.

“I think it’s important not to be deliberately obscure, and I think that as we get older as songwriters we get better at expressing things more clearly and precisely. As you get better your scope gets wider and your focus gets sharper. There’s more you can pick from and when you go for it, you really go for it,” Fleming says.

“I’m still in love with songs and I think that song form is very important. It can be terribly easy to just say, ‘Oh, I’m making art music’ – it can be an excuse for laziness. I’ve heard a lot of music passed off as art music that is just crap. Who hasn’t?”

With their “us against the world” mentality and a heady sense of theatrics when it comes to performance, some press see fit to label the group as “eccentric”.

Fleming is in two minds about this description.

“I think it’s a little patronising – it implies that you’re not saying anything crucial… but then again, I’d certainly not haul anyone over the coals for saying it,” he muses.

“I guess we do have a certain skewed viewpoint on things. I think, as a band, we’re quite clear-eyed – I think we say things clearly, but then again, if you are eccentric then what you think is normal is normal… when maybe it’s not!”

*Wild Beasts play Concorde 2, Madeira Drive, Brighton, on November 26, 7pm, £13. SOLD OUT. Call 01273 673311.