Why would I post a review of Wolf Alice’s ‘The Clearing’ after one listening? Because I wanted to see how I felt immediately. I got into Wolf Alice on the strength of ‘Blush’, a song I listened to many times mixed with other tunes, until eventually it just started to shine and I couldn’t shut it out. It’s my favourite. ‘The Clearing’ may have some of that enduring cling, but I will say for now that a bunch of these songs really got me on first listening. Not all, but some. Here’s my honest and entirely sober midday review after one listening (second listening is in progress as I write this, of course). Been waiting a long time for this album from what I consider to be a legendary band!

I will admit, first off, that I’m a big fan of Wolf Alice, and that by far my favorite album from them is Blue Weekend. That tempestuous inconsistency of sound and vibration, the softness and the hardness, feels like a dichotomy of style born from a crucible of I-don’t-care-what-anyone-thinks, this is what I’m doing, this is the sound that comes to me, and I’m going to chase it right down the alleyway to the end, doesn’t matter who’s following me, even if it’s the fuzz, or how many people are telling me to change direction, even if that’s you and that other person down the street, this is what we’re doing, this is what we’re seeing, and we’re going to hammer the engine if it starts to stall, just to get a bit more speed out of this machine. This is the machine. I love that about Blue Weekend. Of course, I love their bangers too. But felt I should put my bias out there.

Here’s my thoughts on the album through one listening:

Thorns as the opening makes me feel like I’m in a James Bond movie somehow, floating through an opening crawl with abstract figures floating in the background of world-saving action. This song is epic, and I love it! Wolf Alice is an epic band, and this is like them acknowledging the bigness of their sound and reach. I mean, they are big-time, and this is a big-time song, please play this one live!

I think Bloom Baby Bloom is the song that most regularly I catch myself humming, especially the chorus. There’s something hopeful and empowering about that tune.  

Just Two Girls… I didn’t really get an impression from this one, other than it feels like a huge throwback to an era I barely remember… I feel that it doesn’t have a lot of bite. And I don’t think a song has to rock to have a bite, the best Wolf Alice edge can come in the softer songs, like Blush. I looked for the edge here but I’m not sure I found it.

Leaning Against the Wall bears repeated listenings. Somehow, the drums in this one really got me and I loved the ending – totally different. I would love to hear this one live and see how the band performs it.

Passenger Seat, right off the bad, felt a bit alt-country to me, and I love how it begins. It feels wistful and distant and like a perfect road trip song. I picture the western mountains in the distance as this song plays, pretty loud on the radio. Stopping at some gas station along the way for a sweaty beer and some soggy fries, the owner in a cowboy hat, Harleys in the parking lot. 

I don’t know if I’m just a sucker for piano-driven music, but Play it Out really got me. I’m a writer, and this is the type of song that makes me float, and opens me up, and lets ideas come. I can picture writing to this song, having it on repeat, as I grasp where it’s going and where I can go as a result. One of my favorites on The Clearing, I will listen to this one numerous times.

Bread Butter Tea Sugar feels a bit disposable. I’d pay attention if I heard this song on the radio, and I’d wonder who on earth put this together, as it’s pretty different, but I’m not sure I would seek out this song on a regular basis. I admire it but perhaps don’t love it as much as the previous track.

Safe in the World, again a bit twangy, a bit summer afternoon heat with a beer in hand as you walk the forest trail. When Ellie really starts belting it out on this one, I felt like I’d come home somehow. I felt like I was opening the door and getting out of the heat, feeling utterly okay with everything, like the best thing I could do was walk through the house, step on the back lawn, lie down, and stare at the passing clouds. Another song I’d really really like to see live, the groove on this thing is unreal.

Midnight Song, starts off feeling more Blue Weekend than any other song on this album. My god, Ellie’s voice… it’s incredible. I saw them play a few songs live at a free concert in Toronto a few weeks ago (my review and some photos here), it’s amazing how good she sounds live. I don’t know why, but I felt some Pink Floyd in this song, from the best of the Floyd era, introspective yet grand in scale. I will use the word epic again, but also personal. Calling David Gilmour please.

White Horses, for me, has that edge that I love, very overtly. I have a feeling that this is the song my kids will like the best off this album… two of those kids are coming with me to the concert in Toronto at History in late September. I figure they will play this song, and I’m so up for it. I love Joel’s voice and energy, and Ellie’s intercessions like she’s just finished showering in the 80s.

The Sofa, still my favorite song from this album, although that may change for me, because I’m going to listen to this album multiple times. I think this is the perfect wrap-up song, because it’s clear that there is some wildness at play in this band, as they seek their artistic direction, and push to maintain that. I love that sensation of yeah, this is the way we’re going, wild and free and all over the place if they want. That outro, too, so sweet and big and epic and piercing.

So overall, great album. Just Two Girls and Bread Butter Tea Sugar are the songs that really didn’t do anything for me on this. The others all hit multiple notes for me and I will listen to them repeatedly. Only two things I wished. One, that this had come out earlier in the summer, because this is a soundtrack for heat and aimlessness and warm nights wandering around, or hitting the road and going as far as you can. The second is, I wish there had been a couple more songs… I would have loved that, to hear more. But really, there’s no complaints here at all, can’t wait to see them live and play a bunch of these songs.

As always, I remain optimistic that one day, I will see them play my favorite Wolf Alice song, Blush, live. (More on Blush here). That’s all I ask! 

I know some people are upset at the lack of bangers on this album. They want their traditional Wolf Alice back. But these are artists, folks. They have every right to evolve, as we have every right to either be on that journey or to disembark. I respect the band more than ever for doing something different. Why do we need to hear the same sound from the same people forever? That’s not art. That’s just sales. I love that they went this direction, not sure it all works for me, but I’ve never heard a Wolf Alice album where I loved every song. This is the same, for me, so much gold in this thing, so much skill and artistry, at a level beyond (in my opinion) any other band in the world just now. They are that good, and I’m glad we have them. I’m definitely along for this journey.