Wolf Alice – A Band Review

     In previous posts, we referred to discussions with a good friend regarding judging a band or a particular album based on its best one or two songs, as compared to considering the entire body of work. We tend to fall on the side of considering a band/album as having “delivered” if there is one song that we enjoy so much that it is fair to argue that the rest is all bonus.
     But there are exceptions, and Wolf Alice is one of them. Certainly others will disagree, but in our opinion Wolf Alice does not have one of those “the rest is all bonus” songs. HOWEVER, we enjoy the body of work. Twice, we were close to writing a blog entry about the song “White Leather.” Both times, we backed off because the song is too light, too “fluffy.’ “Fluffy” is a term we sometimes use to describe a song that may be likeable, but without enough substance, drive or complexity to be that song that leads to a conclusion that the band has “delivered.” Ironically, Wolf Alice has a song entitled “Fluffy” that does have drive and sufficient complexity (unlike Alanis Morissette, we do know the definition of the term “ironic”). We like both of those Wolf Alice songs, and we also like “Leaving You” and “Bros.” So, this blog entry is overdue.

     The band name, Wolf Alice, is from a book by Angela Carter, rather than being a dyslexic reference to Alice Wolf, the U.S. politician who recently retired. Wolf Alice is based in Northern London and was originally a solo project of Ellie Roswell. In addition to Roswell, the current members are Joel Amey, Joff Oddie, Theo Ellis.

     It is useless to try to compare the band to other bands, since the songs vary in even their basic structures. For example, while listening to “White Leather,” you might find yourself thinking that Wolf Alice sounds similar to a particular established female artist, but a switch to “Fluffy” results an equally quick switch in the evaluation. So, it’s better to just present the music.

     "White Leather" by Wolf Alice

     "Fluffy" by Wolf Alice

     "Leaving You" by Wolf Alice

     "Bros" by Wolf Alice