Wolf Alice have made the album of the summer (with only a couple of weeks of it left) - their fourth overall and first since fan fave Blue Weekend in 2021. Recorded in LA and written in London, it’s no surprise that it’s heavily influenced by transatlantic big bands like Fleetwood Mac.
The Clearing is an album that seems to showcase the importance of one’s individuality, found through growth and proving your place in the world; especially within the music industry. Ellie Rowsell’s existence as a woman in the typically male-centred world of indie rock is contested beautifully.
The album opens with Thorns where Rowsell questions why she ‘must persist to write a song and dance about it’, a query which is answered in the ensuing 10 songs. She must make a song and dance to create music which flips the expectation of a 30-something year old woman on its head.
The lead single Bloom Baby Bloom starts off with a januty piano riff, and you’d be forgiven for expecting an upbeat pop-rock radio friendly track, but it’s really a rage-fuelled performance where Rowsell imagines herself to ‘sing like Axl Rose … but singing a song about being a woman.’ It’s a commentary on her experience, much like the opening track.
Arguably, a lot of this album seems to be more Rowsell’s catharsis of heavy feelings. Her lyricism oozes with questions of morality re: the potential of having a baby (a theme seen tackled by The Big Moon previously int he genre, and Charli XCX wider into pop) on Play it Out. She reinforces that she can both rule the world AND rock the cradle. In addition to this, the Wolf Alice classic of strong declarations of love and the extent of them are scattered throughout: a stand out is the line ‘you put my name up in lights, because doesn’t anybody love you more than I do?’ on Leaning Against the Wall - a song which starts with a country, Americana theme which descends into a hazy, portishead-ish outro.
My number one track on the album is Bread Butter Tea Sugar which amps up the Fleetwood Mac comparisons tenfold. It begins with an almost overpowering piano not dissimilar to ‘Don’t Stop’ from Rumours - and with lyrics that combine love and hate ‘how could I hate you? Somehow I like you more / just what I’m qualified for’, it fits the bill once again.
Whilst we are seeing a lot of personal experience embedded into this album from their lead singer, it is the first Wolf Alice album to include a song with a different vocalist. On White Horses, the verses are dominated by their drummer, Joel Amey, who brings the 70s fantasy in the style of Marc Bolan. With mantra-like lyrics of ‘music and love have magnetic properties’ and ‘I do not need no rooting, I carry home with me’, I wish this was used as the grand finale to the album, reinforcing the role of creating a song and dance.
The actual closer, The Sofa, however, brings the listener to the question Rowsell has had along: why does one choose this life? The answer being … a bit unclear, but overall that everything will be okay and work out.
You can love your life, be wild, be happy whilst also wishing to sometimes just lay down and wait for it to pass: this album can fit any mood you experience, a true fit-for-all-purpose set of songs.
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