Wolf Alice: 2021
Wolf Alice performing live for WFUV
The London quartet Wolf Alice began recording their third album, Blue Weekend, in Belgium just as the world's borders began shutting down due to the pandemic. The band, which won the prestigious Mercury Prize for their 2017 album, Visions of a Life, took advantage of being stranded far from home in a residential studio and took their time with Blue Weekend, refining it with producer Marcus Dravs, and finding a powerful, cinematic scope to singer and guitarist Ellie Rowsell’s very personal songs.
Alternating between savage beauty, real fury, self-doubt, and caustic humor, the meticulously executed Blue Weekend is the pinnacle of Wolf Alice’s already impressive career. Rowsell, guitarist Joff Oddie, bassist Theo Ellis, and drummer Joel Amey were part of Glastonbury Festival’s Live at Worthy Farm stream this spring, and have already plotted a hopeful return to festivals later this summer.
In this FUV Live session, I spoke with Ellie over Zoom from her home in London about the intimacy of her lyrics and the band’s heightened and focused creativity during quarantine. Wolf Alice is renowned for their electrifying live performances and the band headed back to a studio to play three songs from Blue Weekend: “The Last Man on Earth,” "How Can I Make It OK?" and "Smile."
[Recorded: 5/25/21]
