27 August 2025
Band: WOLF ALICE
Who: Lauded British guitar pop quartet, fronted
by the charismatic vocalist Ellie Rowsell.
New album: THE CLEARING
Their 4th one.
NME says: “After the chaos of your twenties, over the threshold of your thirties, you’ll
often find a sense of calm. You’ve spent a decade of adulthood figuring out who you are
and what you want from life through trial and messy error. Now, more settled in your sense
of self, you get to take a breather and enjoy what you’ve happened upon through the madness.
‘The Clearing’, Wolf Alice’s sublime fourth album, represents that moment of clarity and peace, and leaving your youthful turmoil behind – even if you know there’s more disorder to come before you pop your clogs. Fittingly, it’s a record that builds on everything the four-piece have done so far on their musical journey and moves it forward in an assured, accomplished way that can only be achieved with time and experience.
TUTV: With their previous album, 2021’s Blue Weekend, the band already moved
on from indie guitar pop and glitzy rockers to more orchestral, singer-songwriter compositions, which fit vocalist Ellie Rowsell wonderfully well.
With The Clearing, the changing, musical process is complete. It’s now more
ELLIE + THE WOLF (yes, FLORENCE + THE MACHINE territory) than before.
The quartet operates here in the stylistic modern-day pop world of artists such
as Chapelle Roan, Suki Waterhouse, Horsegirl, Lucy Dacus, and yes, even the sugary
The Last Dinner Party.
Overall, the British press applauds the change as if WA invented the genre. Nope,
they just decided to join the immensely and globally successful pop universe of the past
10 years, putting glamorous Ellie Rowsell in the middle, more than ever. Not really what I hoped for, but in a bigger market, they’ll become bigger stars than they already were.
SINGLES
ALBUM