The fourth studio album by Wolf Alice ‘The Clearing’ was released in August amidst much anticipation and critical praise. The new material sees the band stretching out and tapping into 70s folk/rock as sonic inspiration, referencing artists like Pentangle, The Carpenters, Glenn Campbell and others.
Written in Seven Sisters and recorded in LA with Grammy-winning producer Greg Kurstin, ‘The Clearing’ represents a maturation of the four-piece who note their growth as individuals as well as musicians, songwriters and performers. Bassist Theo Ellis noted, “we were trying to explore our competence within that and in an incredible way, when you’re listening to the biggest pop songs and the best songs, the biggest songwriters who were the most prevalent in culture around then, these bands were just unbelievable,” he stated, “I think the nostalgia for an era that became apparent and that’s why there’s The Carpenters, there’s a band called Pentangle that we reference a lot specifically this one song, ‘Wedding Dress’ that appeared all the time and and Glenn Campbell kept coming up. I think that’s just the phase we’re in, we were in, or have been in. Not to say that this we’re always going to be in this phase. The beauty of it is that it’s a constant evolution.”
Lyrically, the band is just as vulnerable as their past works while frontwoman Ellie Rowsell digs into emphasizing her vocals on tracks like “Bloom Baby Bloom” and “The Sofa”, the former she noted “I wanted a rock song, to focus on the performance element of a rock song and sing like Axl Rose, but to be singing a song about being a woman.” Other tracks like “White Horses” sees drummer Joel Amey on lead vocals while tackling the personal subject matter of his heritage. Amey 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.” He stated, ”White Horses was me trying to put all that into a tune, and Ellie, Joff and Theo helped me all along the way.”
Wolf Alice members Joel Amey and Theo Ellis spoke with B-Sides host Pete Mar about tapping into the nostalgic sounds of 70s artists like Pentangle, The Carpenters and Glenn Campbell for their latest album ‘The Clearing’. They talk about maturing as individuals and musicians, touring with Gengahr guitarist John Victor, their updated look and more.
