Wolf Alice: “inspired by the era in which the bands dominated”

Saying Seven Sisters One could immediately think of the suggestive limestone cliffs overlooking the sleeve canal. For the Wolf Alice, however, it is the District north of London that some of them call their home. Right here, in a multicultural cross between red buses, open markets open and night and small recording studios, took shape “The Clearing ”, the new album released on August 29th. “It would have been very cool to make the disc on the cliffs, however!”, Jaffing Oddie, Theo Ellis and Joel Amey, joke together during the interview with Rockol together to present their fourth studio work.

After the previous album “Blue Weekend” and the consequent tour, which ended right in Italy with a concert at the Fabrique in Milan in November 2022, The Wolf Alice took their time to work on the new albumborn from an essential, almost instinctive approach: melodies built guitar in hand, voices recorded together in the same room, and the desire to leave each pressure behind.

“We started writing some new songs already finished ‘Blue Weekend’,” explains the guitarist Joffie Oddie: “Then a promotion period was followed linked to that album. But even while we were on tour each of us maybe wrote something, even alone. The ‘Blue Weekend’ tour is concluded right here, in Milan. After we took a couple of months on the break, more or less. Until c.We found in a small study in Seven Sistersnorth of London, and we started playing together, in a very simple, almost primitive way. We worked especially on the melodiesplaying acoustic guitars, focusing on the musical bases. Then we flew to Los Angeles to record with Greg Kurstin. We spent a fantastic period with him: he is a great one, he is really talented, and the study is beautiful. Four years seem many to be filled. But I wonder how it is possible that four years have already passed since the previous album? Now, here we are! “.

In Italian, “Clearing” can have different translations and meaningsdepending on the context. The most common one in a literal and naturalistic sense, suggests a “clearing”, An open space in the middle of a forest. But it can also indicate, in a more figurative sense, a moment of clarity, a clarification, or a surrender of the accounts. The Wolf Alice have chosen “The Clearing” as a title To evoke the creative process of the discplaying precisely on the ambiguity of the term, between a physical condition and a mental state. “When we started writing this album, We really focused on having fun“, Underlines Ellie Rowsell:“ Even if we made a lot of commitment and we made decisions in a very careful way, we wanted to have a more relaxed approach. I don’t say that we succeeded completely, but We wanted to enjoy the process. The title wants to evoke one feeling of peace, of quiet reflection – In a non -depressing or anxious way. It really reflects our creative process. The songs of the disc, however, are not all cheerful: some are introspective, perhaps even a little gloomy, but they still try to be serene “.

Anticipated by the Heavy Rock power of the single “Bloom Baby Bloom“,” The Clearing “consists of Songs showing ambition, ideas and emotions who pushed the band to make it. Irony and introspection peeps out among the verses of eleven tracks of the disc, which take on an analog tone, Daughters of Rowsell’s writing on the pianowhich gives the songs Shades of Carole King and Fleetwood Mac. “There is no precise formula of how songs are born. Sometimes they are born in different ways,” explains Ellie in Rockol. While on stage is explosive, and his voice is as caress as he screams and tension, the singer and musician of the Wolf Alice initially appears as the most fearful of the group during the interview. “After each album, I have the feeling that a new phase opens,” adds Ellie Rowsell: “You become more receptive to inspiration. But you have to be kind to yourself. Sometimes you think: ‘I have to write a song immediately’, but in reality you are already working. You are only absorbing. I always write Notes on the phone, I watch many movies, I listen to a lot of music, I often go out. In this way, when I sit on the floor, or I put myself in front of the computer, or encounter other musicians, I already have material made of quotes, playlists, ideas. Everything comes from those moments, from that collection of inspiration“.

“If the Fleetwood Macs Mac today wrote a disc in northern London, it would probably play similar to this album, characterized, from the sound point of view, from the elimination of superfluous details or tinsels”, reads the presentation of the new album “The Clearing”. What kind of musical suggestions, influences or attitudes of the past – of the period between the sixties, seventy and eighty – have inspired Wolf Alice? “That was a very stimulating period, and it is therefore of great inspiration,” says Joff Oddie: “Today, being a band also means looking back to a time when pop music, understood as popular, was made by the bands. So it is interesting to rethink those periods and wonder: ‘What did they do then?’. In a sense, therefore, part of the music of that period influenced this album – I would not say it was the only source, but certainly There is a good dose of inspiration from the 1960s, seventies and eighty“.

To anticipate the release of “The Clearing”, at the beginning of June Ellie, Joff, Theo and Joel, accompanied by the keyboardist Ryan Malcolm, went from Milan for an underwear to the apotel (here the story of the evening). Waiting to see them again In concert on November 13th at the Alcatraz in Milanthe evening proved to be a fair development between the various chapters of the original formation discography of London, crossing any sound environment in which its stories are built. As on disk, even live The strength of the band is also in its imaginationin knowing how to weave several suggestions and inspirations, poised between grunge, shoegaze and Dream pop, capable of evoke many stories, but without really resembling anyone. “What kind of evolution or change have sought the Wolf Alice with” The Clearing “after” Blue Weekend “?”We wanted the listener to have the feeling of listening to the band playing right in front of him“, The drummer Joel Amey tells:“ I think we succeeded, having fun in the studio but without leaning on the past. It is a film disc, but it also has a nice variety of dynamics. It was our goal, and it’s nice to think that we have achieved it. “

After three acclaimed albums, and ten years after the beginning, the Wolf Alice confirm that they are not a passenger phenomenon of simple hits, but their repertoire is a treasure chest full of beautiful, solid songs. In the year in which the tenth anniversary of the debut album “My Love Is Cool” occurs, ready to publish its first work with the Major RCA Records under Sony, after the end of the contract with Dirty Hit, the band still manages to renew its enthusiasm. “To be honest, today we feel enthusiastic, as if it were a first time“, Theo Ellis declares:” We released the latest album during Covid, and reflecting us, it was a very strange experience. In recent weeks, playing very live and meeting many people, we got excited. It is beautiful. I believe that before ‘Blue Weekend’ we did not experience so many moments like this. In some ways, we feel like when ‘My Love Is Cool’ came out in 2015. We don’t know what will happen when people listen to this record, and it’s an exciting thing. “On how the group feels in relation to today’s music scene, Ellie Rowsell concludes:”I can say that this year many beautiful albums are coming out. And many of these are based on guitars or are published by bands. It makes me very positive towards music. Even if we know that the scenario has now changed for some time, and that it is a difficult moment for many, there is still something exciting in the air. Then, there is a really desire for live concerts-maybe it’s a post-covid effect. But something beautiful is happening“.