Image Credit: Rachel Fleminger Hudson

Much like the titular character of Angela Carter’s short story, which inspired the name of this band, Wolf Alice’s fourth release The Clearing is an album of two sides, with a duality reflecting the current state of the band members. After years of decoding life, relationships and selfhood in their previous albums My Love Is Cool, Visions of a Life and Blue Weekend, the four-piece from North London seem to have adopted a confidence and maturity provided by finding peace in ‘The Clearing’: a period which follows the turbulent years of youth. Consisting of Ellie Rowsell on lead vocals, Joel Amey on drums, Theo Ellis on bass, and Joff Oddie on guitar, the band have had a huge year already playing the likes of Glastonbury and Primavera before embarking on the US, UK and Europe tour from September to December. Having released their debut album a decade ago, it seems as though Wolf Alice are being truer than ever to themselves and the world around them. 

Image Credit: Rachel Fleminger Hudson

Opening track ‘Thorns’ eases us into the album, where the piano pairs beautifully with an orchestrated string instrumentation. It completely elevates Roswell’s vocal ability while she addresses a younger version of herself, lamenting about being hurt and making it known in song: “I must be a narcissist/god knows that I can’t resist/to make a song and dance about it”. The band played the track live at BBC Radio One’s Big Weekend in Liverpool, shortly after its live debut in Ireland, and it was warmly appreciated by the crowd on a drizzly May day. It provides the perfect bookend to The Clearing, along with album closer ‘The Sofa’, and plants an early theme of looking introspectively to understand the world surrounding you. 

A stark contrast, the next track ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’, the first single of the album, releases a musical beast. The unapologetic performativity of this track and its accompanying music video, which you’d expect to see in a scene of Fame, Flashdance or Stayin’ Alive (just with a lot more screaming and pyrotechnics), commands your attention and makes sure everybody knows of Wolf Alice’s return after four years of not releasing music. Joel Amey’s drumming is reminiscent of the percussion of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tusk’, with the clapping rhythm also making you want to chant the lyrics. This is not the only time we see this influence on the record. The lyricism once again displays the emotional awareness and intelligence of Rowsell as she explores what it’s like being a woman fronting an indie-rock band and using “the guitar as a shield in the past”. Across this album her vocals embody the ferocity of some of the greats before her: Debbie Harry, Fiona Apple, Courtney Love. 

‘Just Two Girls’ offers a more bluesy side to The Clearing, but feels like a hopelessly romantic ode to female friendship. It perfectly recalls a scenario many women are familiar with: sitting in a bar with your best friend, chatting about life, being completely open with and appreciating one another. This and the following track ‘Leaning Against The Wall’ are centred strongly around Rowsell’s vocals, with hypnotic harmonies which place you in a dream-like trance. The latter’s acoustic guitar and stripped back drum beats give an instrumental build up to the ethereal layered vocals which end the track. Although it currently seems to be an under-appreciated track, this is a personal standout.

Coming in under three minutes as the shortest song on the album, ‘Passenger Seat’ applies light-hearted lyrics about how objects attach themselves to moments of nostalgia to a country-esque song, which unironically would be perfect to drive to. At the album’s centre though, we take another new turn. From the opening piano of ‘Play It Out’, it was evident the track would be heartbreaking and it certainly didn’t disappoint in this expectation. The delicate song acts as a lullaby, providing the most raw and emotional lyrics on the album sure to resonate with many women. Rowsell reflects on life as a woman, like in ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’, but instead of fury her voice is filled with melancholy as she begs society to let her play life out how she wants to, without the pressures of motherhood or marriage: 

“Just watch me build castles in the hourglass sand/Might still hear screaming in the hallway from the empty pram/In my mind I didn’t put it there, it was some other fucker’s plan/I wanna age with excitement, feel my world expand/Go grey and feel delighted, don’t just look sexy on a man”

This being said, the closing chorus of the track has an undertone of frustration lurking beneath, before the song ends with the sound of a fairground ride, as if it was all just a thought which won’t quite shift. 

Upbeat energy and ‘70s influences return with ‘Bread Butter Tea Sugar’ which is infused with sounds of ABBA, Electric Light Orchestra and The Beatles. Oddie’s electric guitar solo midway through takes charge of the song, and paired with the glissando, pacing of the drums and the dramatic violins, makes it unlike anything fans expected from Wolf Alice. However, Rowsell’s familiar raspy vocals make a return at the end of the track, echoing that of the outro to ‘Lipstick On The Glass’. 

Circling back to the Fleetwood Mac inspiration, ‘Safe In The World’ recalls the band’s early years, with laid back and groovy basslines from Ellis which remind me of ‘Albatross’. If we hadn’t already had enough evidence of Roswell’s brilliant songwriting and her ability to encapsulate human relationships through words, this is an amazing display of that. Moreover, the following track, ‘Midnight Song’, opens with a guitar similar to that of Fleetwood Mac’s later, Stevie Nicks-led song ‘Sara’ but is accompanied by angelic vocals and a building production. These two are more understated tracks which may be forgotten amongst those Wolf Alice fans who prefer the heavier rock songs produced on earlier albums. 

Amey takes the reins on lead vocals for ‘White Horses’, the third single from The Clearing, which explores selfhood, family and identity. Explaining more about the song’s conception, he shared: “We’ve never really known where we came in terms of heritage until recently. My mum and my aunt were adopted, and for years it posed questions of identity and where our roots lay for all of us, but for me, they never seemed like answers I needed to find out.” The layering guitars and basslines throughout the song give it a mystical sound, as Amey’s breathy vocals are joined by Rowsell sounding like she is casting a spell in the pre-chorus. Think Cocteau Twins, meet Kate Bush and The Cranberries. 

Releasing the album closer as a single initially struck me as an interesting choice. However, ‘The Sofa’ acts as a perfect ending to The Clearing and is certainly my favourite song on the album. The moment I listened to it, it became an earworm and has been going round in my head all summer since its release. It epitomises what this album is about: finding yourself and being happy with where you are, but not letting go of what once was. The process of aging is reflected in the instrumental break, with roaring strings making the song feel cinematic and the band’s collective vocals honing in on a triumphant end. 

To return to Angela Carter’s Wolf Alice, this album has allowed the band to discover their true selves as the girl does in the fairytale; they look into the metaphorical mirror of life and recognise the faces looking back at themselves as their own. Although there may be more difficult times to come after the clearing, Wolf Alice do not shy away from this but instead allow for a moment of peace and reconciliation. In the closing pages of Carter’s retelling, the young girl, part wolf, part human, gains the ability to recognise her reflection: “her relation with the mirror was now far more intimate since she knew she saw herself in it.” With The Clearing’s close, Rowsell similarly looks internally to find herself hoping she can “accept the wild thing in [her]/hope nobody comes to tame her/and she can be free.”