‘A good album is one of the highest forms of art’

Wolf Alice is in a class of its own when it comes to the Mercury Prize.

They received their awards last month Fourth consecutive nomination were deemed worthy of the coveted music award thanks to their new album The Clearing.

This is something no one has ever achieved. Not Arctic Monkeys, not Radiohead, not Pulp. Moreover, they achieved this with their first four albums.

“For some reason it really worries me,” admits singer Ellie Rowsell, speaking to the BBC from Nashville, where the band is holding final rehearsals for their world tour.

He speaks from experience. When Wolf Alice won the Mercury Prize Ellie struggled to keep her composure on the runway for their second album, Visions of a Life, in 2018.

“I’m so nervous,” he shouted, his hands shaking, before bandmate Theo Ellis interrupted to end the conversation.

To fans, Rowsell’s uneasiness may seem strange. The singer normally looks like an intense fireball on stage, singing punk anthems like Yuk Foo and commanding attention with magnetic charisma.

But his more intimate songs portray him as a habitual outsider who doubts his own abilities and motivations.

On The Clearing’s pensive opening track, Thorns, she even berates herself for “singing and dancing” about the breakup that inspired Wolf Alice’s previous album, Blue Weekend.

“I don’t know if I’m shy. I think I’m socially awkward.” she recently told Canadian DJ Tara Sloane. “I have a lot of confidence in some things, but I’m not the loudest person in the room.”

It’s understandable, then, that he’s nervous about attending another awards show. But Rowsell is also “grateful and happy” to be included again on Mercury’s shortlist. They will find out whether they won or not at the ceremony on Thursday.

“We take the albums pretty seriously,” says guitarist Joff Oddie, speaking from his home in London (he is unable to join the US tour because his wife is about to give birth to their first child).

“In our world, a good album is one of the highest forms of art. People can make good songs or give a great live performance, and those are all great signposts. But for me, a truly great album is an incredible achievement… if you can pull it off.”

So the band have signed up as ambassadors for National Album Day, which will take place across the UK on Saturday 18 October, with special events and limited edition vinyl reissues of classic records from Liam Gallagher, Patti Smith and Iggy Pop.

But when asked to name their favorite albums, Wolf Alice is evasive.

“I don’t know what the absolute top three will be,” Rowsell says. “But if I can listen to an album from start to finish over and over again, that’s a sign because it’s hard to pay attention.”

Stating that Pink was the first album Missundaztood had, the singer eventually settled on The Streets’ A Grand Don’t Come For Free as an example of a “perfect album”.

“I think this is one of those albums where you can really appreciate the art, even if it’s not to your taste,” he says.

Oddie agrees: “I’m not big on concept albums, but it has a great story from beginning to end and it never compromises on the songs.”

The guitarist also singles out Brian Eno’s ambient classic Music For Airports as one of his Desert Island Albums.

“I’ve spent most of my adult life on public transport, and this is a nice record time to get out of the outside world,” he says.

They collectively agree that 1966’s The Velvet Underground & Nico is a must-have for any serious audiophile.

“This is one of the most important alternative records of all time,” says Oddie. “There is incredible songwriting, the songs stand on their own but are disguised with really avant-garde sounds and techniques.

“As a guitarist in an indie band, if you can write incredible songs and play them in an interesting way, then you’re part of that lineage.”

The diversity of their tastes (Rowsell also singles out the mutant folk on Lankum’s 2023 album False Lankum) is key to Wolf Alice’s shape-shifting sound.

They started out as a folk duo in 2010 but quickly evolved into a quartet; They adopted an alt-rock style characterized by Oddie’s textured guitar work, the rhythmic interplay between bassist Ellis and drummer Joel Amey, and Rowsell’s sharp lyricism.

In the early stages, Oddie says, they were “just muddling through.”

“We had no idea what we were doing from a technical standpoint.

“We have worked with great people in the past who have been very patient with us.

“It was probably a nightmare making the record [with us] “At the time, we had an idea of ​​what we wanted to sound like, but we didn’t know how things worked.”

Each album marked progress. Their 2015 debut album My Love Is Cool wrapped ethereal indie anthems with barbed-wire guitar riffs; 2017’s Visions Of A Life album produced its biggest hit: the frenetic synth-driven Don’t Delete KissesIn addition to winning Mercury; and 2021’s Blue Weekend brought a wide-ranging, wounded grandeur to their sound.

The Clearing, which topped the UK albums chart in August, marks its boldest evolution yet; It embraces the nostalgic sounds of 1970s FM pop radio and has been compared to The Carpenters, Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan.

“Maybe looking back we can say there was a bit of a stylistic shift,” says Rowsell. “But it didn’t sound too violent at the time. It just reflected what we were listening to.”

Their goal was to make a record that felt good to play live, filled with songs like Blue Weekend, which Oddie calls “more song-like songs.” Delicious Things – this has become an unexpected feature of their live shows.

“This song was different from anything we’ve done before [and] It didn’t feel like something people would enjoy experiencing,” Rowsell says.

“But the audience was just as joyful and excited as when we played one of our rock songs.

“So I said, ‘Okay, it’s not just the fast, loud, heavy music that gets the crowd going.’ And that was really exciting.”

“It’s a matter of trust,” adds Oddie. “Sometimes you feel like you have to make your voice heard by being as loud and annoying as possible.

“We were saying, ‘Oh, we can connect with the audience just as effectively but in a different way.'”

Recorded in Los Angeles with world-class producer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Beyoncé, Foo Fighters), the album is unapologetically big; full of harmonies, hooks, ambition and heart.

But the reinvention of soft rock caught some critics off guard. While the reviews are largely positive, Quietus retreated It’s the absence of heavy guitar anthems in a hard-hitting screed that uses descriptors like “non-intrusive,” “clunky” and “rash by the numbers.”

“Wolf Alice had sap. She abandoned them in the Clearing.” I agree with Soundsphere’s Callie Petch.

Admittedly, it takes a minute to get used to it – but The Clearing is one of those records that reveals new depths and complexity with every listen.

The songs may not have the tinnitus-inducing qualities of old favorites like Fluffy or Play The Greatest Hits, but there’s a newfound confidence and playfulness amidst the calm.

For this reason, Wolf Alice leans towards 70s rock iconography in the album’s artwork.

Ellis poses in a leather jacket with Wolf Alice written on it. Rowsell stands in the spotlight, her head turned back as she sings with eyes-closed intensity.

“On our first two albums, the artwork was just visual,” says Rowsell. “And if you come across a photo that represents the music and the lyrics, it’s really romantic and gorgeous.”

But for this record, Wolf Alice called on photographer Rachel Fleminger Hudson, who spent six months sifting through “thousands and thousands” of archive footage and interviews to create an aesthetic that reflected the band’s inspirations and passions.

“He was very academic in his approach to this subject,” Oddie says. “There was too much skin. Too much.”

All of this amounts to a statement of intent.

A criticism/compliment often leveled at Wolf Alice is that they are impossible to pinpoint. Its effects are far-reaching. Their ideas are very different.

But The Clearing have a clarity and purpose that shows they’ve finally come to terms with the idea of ​​being a chart-topping, festival-headlining “big band”.

“Oh, I don’t know if we have anything big band,” Oddie objects.

“I don’t think we would say that. But we are conscious of being a band, full stop.

“We lean on knowledge.”