Wolf Alice is a British grungy-alternative-indie-pop-rock shoegaze-ridden-punk band fronted by Ellie Rowsell, with guitarist and backup vocalist Joff Oddie (the other member of the original duo in their earliest days), bassist Theo Ellis and drummer Joel Amey.
Originating in North London in 2010, the band was originally the acoustic duo of Rowsell and Oddie, who named themselves after a story by Angela Carter. After deciding to add electric elements to their sound, they added two new members: Rowsell's friend Sadie Cleary, on bass, and Oddie's friend George Bartlett, on drums. They self-released their first EP, Wolf Alice, in 2010. In 2012, Bartlett broke his wrist and was temporarily replaced by Joel Amey, who eventually joined the band permanently. Cleary left to focus on her studies the same year and was replaced by Theo Ellis. The band would release their first official EP, Blush, in 2013, followed by their second EP, Creature Songs, in 2014. Their first official album, My Love Is Cool, was released in 2015, with their second album, the 2018 Mercury Award-winning Visions Of A Life, released in 2017. In 2021, a new single, titled "The Last Man on Earth" was released, accompanied by the announcement of their third album Blue Weekend, due on June 11th.
Discography:
- Wolf Alice (EP, 2010)
- Blush (EP, 2013)
- Creature Songs (EP, 2014)
- My Love Is Cool (2015)
- Visions Of A Life (2017)
- Blue Weekend (2021)
Our love is tropes:
- Album Title Drop: "Freazy" has a partial one with "Our love is cool".
- Bookends: Blue Weekend starts with the tense, anxious "The Beach", and ends with the more optimistic, uplifting "The Beach II".
- Careful with That Axe: "Yuk Foo" in general, and there's a random scream in "She".
- Cluster F-Bomb: "Yuk Foo", as one could predict from the title.
- Darker and Edgier: "Yuk Foo" was intentionally released as the first single from Visions Of A Life to make it clear that the album would be different and darker.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: "Sky Musings", which is about
the musings one has while on a plane. - Genre Mashup: The band is described as a blend of pop, rock, folk, punk and grunge. Elements of shoegaze and dream pop are also present.
- It's All About Me: "The Last Man On Earth" is about a narcissist.
- Looped Lyrics: The choruses of several songs: "90 Mile Beach"'s chorus repeats "You owe me", "Storm" repeats "Your friends", and "The Wonderwhy" repeats "Don't leave me here when I'm not sold".
- Love Martyr: The protagonist of "Your Loves Whore".
- Lyrical Dissonance: "Blush" is one of the saddest songs about being happy there is.
- "Heavenly Creatures" is this, given how the story it was based on ended.
- "Heavenward" sounds like a light-hearted rock song, but the lyrics are actually about the death of a friend.
- Naïve Newcomer: "Delicious Things" is about a girl who's suddenly been elevated to stardom and is rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous in LA, but is painfully aware of how new she is, how much she doesn't know and how much she stands out.
- Non-Appearing Title: "90 Mile Beach", "Freazy".
- Perishing Alt-Rock Voice: Ellie's a good example.
- Precision F-Strike: There's one in the chorus of "You're A Germ": "Where's mum and dad so you can tell 'em?/You're a dodgy fucker as well."
- Shout-Out: Quite a few. To start with, as previously mentioned, the band's name is one to a short story from The Bloody Chamber. "Freazy" references Alice, the wolf, and feral children, which are all elements of the story in question.
- "Moaning Lisa Smile" is from the perspective of Lisa Simpson.
- "Heavenly Creatures" was inspired by the film of the same name.
- The video for "You're A Germ" was inspired by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
- The title of "Lisbon" is one to The Virgin Suicides.
- "Beautifully Unconventional" is from the perspective of J.D..
- "Formidable Cool" was inspired by The Girls.
- Silly Love Songs: "Don't Delete The Kisses". The video reinforces the trope.
- The Smurfette Principle: One girl, three guys. Though when Sadie was on bass, it was equally balanced.
- Spoonerism: "Yuk Foo" is a contender for the least subtle spoonerism of all time.
- Step Up to the Microphone: Joff is the only singer on "Swallowtail".
- Take That, Critics!: "Freazy" was written as one after the band started getting hate for not being 'pop' enough. The lyrics explicitly state that critics can say what they want because it won't matter.
