"Blue Weekend" by Wolf Alice
Wolf Alice, the UK alt-rock band, emerges as a sneaking powerhouse. For over a decade now, their songs have floated through radio stations, appeared on the niche Spotify playlists, and secretly nestled themselves in the back of the average indie kid’s mind. The band’s most popular hits are from their earlier years, notably “Moaning Lisa Smile” and “Don’t Delete the Kisses,” yet their more recent work deserves just as much praise. On June 11, Wolf Alice dropped their third studio album titled Blue Weekend, which further establishes the band’s immense talent of blending the pop/indie/rock genres for a modern listener.
Carrying the album is Wolf Alice’s lead singer, Ellie Rowsell, who can miraculously bend her voice to match any mood. She is backed by phenomenal instrumentals, led by guitarist Joff Oddie, with whom Rowsell started the band. Because of their incredible range and talent, Wolf Alice will not settle into a single genre. They can be considered part of the “shoegaze” genre (similar to dream-pop but with more rock elements), fall under the general umbrella of indie-rock, or even lean into their folk persuasion. Blue Weekend showcases this precise versatility, offering a song to anyone and everyone.
The album is bookended by two songs called “The Beach” and “The Beach II.” With the inclusion of these, the narrative of heartbreak is made clear. Opening the album with a reference to the three witches of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, “The Beach” greets listeners with an odd and enticing allusion to departure. It begs the question, ‘when will we meet again?’ To contrast the album, “The Beach II” is about acceptance, imagining the tide going out “consistent like the laughter / of the girls on the beach / my girls on the beach / happy ever after.”
With the exception of the interlude-like opening and closing songs, Blue Weekend is a collection of seemingly independent melodies and themes. Each song encapsulates a specific emotion and blends the lines between genres. The initial single released, “The Last Man on Earth,” captures a melancholic reflection. For the first half of the song, Rowswell sings about the pitfalls of humanity, accompanied solely by a piano. What I struggle to call a “beat drop” comes around the two-minute mark with a symphony of classic rock instruments. It feels like a grand epiphany every time I listen to it. When the song dropped in February, I laid on the floor of my shoebox dorm room and played it on repeat all through the night. I truly felt like the last man on earth.
“Smile,” the next single off the album, establishes itself as a hard-rock fever dream completely unlike “The Last Man on Earth.” Interspersed with epic guitar riffs and heavy drum beats, “Smile” is something to bang your head along to while driving over the speed limit. The song is a banger in every sense of the word, and only eases up for the chorus: “sun and the shine / ah, smile.” It’s about the rage let loose after being disrespected by someone you once loved. This song gets your blood pumping and heart racing.
Wolf Alice doesn’t stop there. Other memorable style shifts appear in “Lipstick on the Glass” and “Play the Greatest Hits.” The former is completely centered in dream-pop aestheticism, reminiscent of The Cranberries or The Cardigans. Rowsell’s voice is high pitched and haunting as she tells a story of regret twinged with nostalgia. She sings: “I take you back / yeah, I know it seems surprising / when there’s still lipstick on the glass.” Rowsell exudes raw emotion in this one, which is contrasted with “Play the Greatest Hits,” a punk-rock party anthem that could’ve been pulled right from Bikini Kill’s debut album, Pussy Whipped. There could not be a greater juxtaposition of sound on Blue Weekend than between those two songs. The way I rationalize it, Wolf Alice places more emphasis on the individual song than maintaining an overarching sound. If a song needs to be heavy-metal, then heavy-metal it shall be. Whether my hypothesis is true or not, this versatility in sound doesn’t detract from cohesion. Tracking back to the band’s first album, My Love is Cool, many songs on that are stylized just the same as songs on this third album. Naturally, Wolf Alice has grown and expanded in the six years since that initial release, but that core promise to make kickass music in their own way remains. If you liked “Moaning Lisa Smile,” then you’ll like “Smile.” If you liked “Don’t Delete the Kisses,” then you’ll love “The Last Man on Earth.”
I don’t know many bands that have the same widescreen range as Wolf Alice and they are absolutely one of a kind because of it. I’d even go as far as to say Blue Weekend is their best work yet...A little known fact, the inspiration for their band name came from the British author, Agatha Carter, who penned a short story distorting the tale of Little Red Riding Hood called “Wolf-Alice.” It is about a feral child who cannot be tamed into submission, yet comes to find redemption in her unique sense of humanity. I find the band name incredibly fitting. One might say the same about their musical stylings: untamed, unique, and full of what it means to be human.
– Shea Humphries