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[title]Do musicians have a hunch when they’ve put together a critical acclaim-worthy and award-winning album? According to Wolf Alice bassist Theo Ellis, the short answer is no. Their latest album, Blue Weekend, was nearly five years in the making, and the group has admitted in past interviews that they really struggled coming up with ideas.
“We spent a lot of time and effort on the detail of the record,” says Ellis. “And when you’re recording an album for a while, you kind of get lost and you don’t know what’s good and what’s not.”
That fear was quickly quelled by the widespread praise the album received from music critics, with nearly five-star reviews across the board. At the 2022 Brit Awards, the group took home the prestigious Group of the Year award – they were nominated alongside Coldplay, Little Mix, London Grammar and D-Block Europe.
“We weren’t expecting it at all,” says Ellis. “Just being in that same bloody room as everyone – with Adele and Mo Salah, all these famous people – is pretty mad.”
There’s no real recipe to success with music, but Ellis reckons this album is the group’s strongest body of songs and has the strongest songwriting that lead singer Ellie Rowsell has ever committed herself to. ‘Lipstick on the Glass’ poignantly weighs up restarting a relationship after a betrayal, and the rock anthem 'Feeling Myself' argues the merits of choosing masturbation over unfulfilling sex with a selfish lover.
When the band released 'The Last Man On Earth' as the lead single, it was immediately obvious that it was designed to be a gig closer. Its slow, majestic build-up is centred around Roswell's emotive voice, with ethereal vocalisations reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins.
“When Ellie first sent us the demo for ‘The Last Man on Earth’, I was walking through a park in London as I listened to it,” says Ellis. “I was just so moved by that song, and I had such an instant reaction.”
Sonically, it’s hard to put the album into the box of any specific genre. Tracks float between punk-rock, trip-hop, dream-pop, shoegaze, classic rock and more, with Roswell’s voice serving as the thread that holds it all together. And while the album has been described as ‘emotionally extravagant’ by outlets like Pitchfork, some tracks are just pure fun – take ‘Play the Greatest Hits’, a track that’s basically built for moshing.
“I think that within the confines of the different genres, we’re not doing anything too drastic – it’s not like we’re going from reggae to classical,” says Ellis. “I think we’ve gotten better at understanding how to connect the dots so that they don’t appear too disjointed.”
The band is wrapping up the American leg of its tour before heading to Australia for the first time in three years this April; they'll be playing a massive three-date headline tour through Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Tickets to the Melbourne show are now sold out but are still available for Sydney and Brisbane through the Frontier Touring website. They’re also playing Groovin The Moo, and tickets are available here.