Wolf Alice

Since 2010 · United Kingdom

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Visions of a Life (2017)

Wolf Alice's second album announced an expansion in every dimension — the quieter songs more nakedly emotional, the louder songs more physically overwhelming, and Ellie Rowsell's voice moving between registers with a confidence their debut had only hinted at. The title track is the defining statement: a seven-minute piece that begins almost acoustically and ends in a full feedback roar, Rowsell's voice rising with the guitars until the song resolves into something close to catharsis. 'Don't Delete the Kisses' works from the opposite premise — slow, minimal, as exposed as the title track is enormous.

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Wolf Alice

Visions of a Life · 2017

Wolf Alice are the rare case of a band whose recorded debut — My Love Is Cool (2015) — arrived with so much accumulated context that it felt immediately settled rather than exploratory. Ellie Rowsell's voice moved between hushed vulnerability and full-throated power with a naturalness that made the transitions feel inevitable, and guitarist Joff Oddie's parts were fluent in both noise-rock excess and careful melodic construction.

Visions of a Life (2017) pushed the stakes: the title track alone, a six-minute arc from delicate to overwhelming, made the case for Wolf Alice as heirs to shoegaze and grunge simultaneously. Blue Weekend (2021), the Mercury Prize-winning third album, added a glossier production register without losing the emotional directness that distinguished them. They are probably the most significant British guitar band of their generation, and the significance feels earned rather than assigned.