It was the dawn of 2022. I sat in my room, fists triumphantly raised in the air as tribute to the YouTube gods—for they had graced my algorithm that day, introducing me to Wolf Alice’s The Pool Sessions. Promoting the release of the band’s latest album Blue Weekend, these live studio recordings snared my attention with their passion, excellence, and character. I came to learn that this eclectic group of four had been making waves in the indie and rock communities since their 2015 debut album, My Love Is Cool. Sophomore album Visions of a Life holds the title of Mercury Prize winner. Specific tracks like “Bros,” a vibrant ode to friendship, accrued a cult following alongside cinematic dream-pop anthem “Don’t Delete the Kisses,” both of which join numerous other compositions brought to life with a variety of earnestness, ferocity, gentleness, and atmosphere.
Early marketing for the band’s fourth album, The Clearing, made it apparent that Wolf Alice wanted to do something different with Blue Weekend’s successor. Visually, the band’s hair was grown out and dyed darker or slicked back. Fae dresses were traded for studded leather jackets and shimmering bodysuits. Promotional images showed Telecaster and Jaguar indie guitars giving way to the Les Pauls and Super Chets of classic rock. Interviews teased new influences, most notably Axl Rose of Guns & Roses. But what I’ve found in The Clearing is not quite the bombastic album I was preparing myself for. Instead, I found a fresh evolution of Wolf Alice’s trademark genuine, playful, and ultimately gentle expression. Let’s take a look at what has stood out from this album in the three months since its August release in 2025: the vocal performances, sound design, sonic margin, and well-supported lyrical themes.
A first notable shift from previous Wolf Alice works is freedom for further expressive liberty from the vocals of frontwoman Ellie Roswell. Stating that she no longer wanted to feel that she needed to “hide behind a guitar,” Roswell uses this collection of tracks to utilize her voice as more of an instrument in and of itself. While she has always been far from a slouch on vocals, there is a new distinct level of character and gravitas that accompanies Roswell’s current performances. Color and drama burst forth in lead single “Bloom Baby Bloom”’s opening verse. Subtle personality and vocal manipulations creep through live performances of “Midnight Song,” and one doesn’t need to look too hard to see the aforementioned influence of Axl Rose. Thankfully, Ellie’s readiness to belt it out has only been reinforced, while still carrying a gentleness that ushers songs like “Leaning Against The Wall” to an angelic plane.
From a sound design perspective, album opener “Thorns” takes advantage of its tracklist privilege to immediately brighten the spotlight on Roswell’s voice. In contrast to the wash of saturated indie vocals on previous albums, the lead vocals are tightly put at the front of the mix. Roswell’s focal melody leads the way through the crescendoes and dynamic retreats of the song, guiding cleverly produced backing vocals that uncannily impersonate the tones of a warbling Hammond organ. Production and sound design continue to shine throughout The Clearing, from bubbling arpeggiators that heighten the effervescent chorus of “Just Two Girls” to the androgynous mixing of Roswell and drummer Joel Amey’s shared vocals in “White Horses.” And one can’t forget the ear-catching, stuttering vocal stack that closes “Leaning Against The Wall,” leaving the listener to briefly wonder if their speakers have broken before relishing in the song’s jolting conclusion.
When I attended a Wolf Alice concert in 2022, the setlist demonstrated the band’s hardcore inclinations. Bassist Theo Ellis had to stop a song and threaten us with collectively singing “kumbaya” after some fellow concertgoers got a little too rowdy. While rich moments of groove still come to life in The Clearing’s “Just Two Girls” and “Bread Butter Tea Sugar,” those hardcore inclinations take a backseat. Amey remarked in interviews that this album gave the band a new chance to internalize a less-is-more mindset, with sonic emptiness and contrast playing a larger role. “Leaning Against The Wall” highlights this practice when stripping back from its verses into each chorus. Guitarist Joff Oddie’s folksy, fingerpicked acoustic guitar carries the weight of an intimacy postured in gentleness, freezing the whole world to one breathtaking moment akin to the eye contact of a lover across a crowded room. Beyond using mid-track contrasts as a tool throughout the album, less busy songs such as “Play It Out” and “The Sofa” allow Wolf Alice to bring a fresh and heightened sense of vulnerability to their discography as a whole.
Lyrically, Wolf Alice stays true to character and covers significant ground. Thorns apologetically opens the album on a self-deprecatory note, the narrator unable to keep from the inevitable “song and dance” that is their response to the stimuli of their experience. “Bloom Baby Bloom” goes on to carry fierce intensity around self-actualization, before “Play It Out” turns to more somber reflections on how to embrace that self-actualization through an unpredictable lifespan. The Clearing concludes gently on this same thread with “The Sofa,” leaving the listener to consider building their own fulfillment on a foundation of self-acceptance and celebration of the wide range of the human experience. That experience is supported by other tracks’ content—“Just Two Girls” celebrates the depths of joy in friendship, while “Leaning Against The Wall” captures the public flutterings of an early love suspended in a quick glance. “Passenger Seat” almost serves as an homage to a road trip out west which makes you wonder if the band is actually American, before “Bread Butter Tea Sugar” reminds the listener that they are, indeed, British.
Ultimately, I believe The Clearing will be viewed as a playful and exploratory addition to Wolf Alice’s discography. It pushes the band’s artistic endeavors into enriched territory while simultaneously managing to hold true to their established identity. New tracks pick up and develop familiar themes—“Bloom Baby Bloom” inherits the feminist power-anthem position from Blue Weekend’s “Smile,” while “Play It Out” offers a matured and more holistic entrance into existential headspace than the breathy angst of Visions of a Life’s “Sky Musings.” Perhaps, even, the friends in “Just Two Girls”’s music video are the deepened and more fully realized characters from My Love Is Cool’s “Bros.” The group continues to age with integrity and poise, and once again I find myself enjoying Wolf Alice’s latest release while eagerly anticipating what heights they will traverse next.
Luke Brandsen graduated in 2019 and uses his business/HR degree to inform directing mission-focused programs. He currently lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he squints at the players on his bootleg soccer stream, breaks guitar strings, and desperately tries to recall where the last D&D session he ran left off.
