Third album for Wolf Alice

 𝗪𝗼𝗹𝗳 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗲 return with 𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱, their third studio album.

The 11 songs are varied enough to make categorization tricky, and they often mix it up within the same track. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘯 𝘖𝘯 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 throws in a colourful psychedelic ELO bridge just because it can, while 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘐𝘵 𝘖𝘒 seems content to be a stately ballad, until it starts building into an epic where singer Ellie Rowsell’s background yells would form the basis of lesser bands' most standout songs.

Rowsell’s lyrics are less opaque than before, whether describing the sensuality of music in 𝘍𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧’s low-slung funk or the messy romance of 𝘓𝘪𝘱𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘖𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴, whose swirling goth melodrama is as close as Wolf Alice have to a comfort zone. They’re capable of stripping it back to primal pop, with Play The Greatest Hits’ deliciously daft glam oddly similar to Toni Basil’s Mickey. Similarly, the expansive rocker 𝘚𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦 shows how Joel Arney has become one of the best drummers around, controlled when needed but equally capable of ferocity.

Blue Weekend isn’t a perfect record, with the folky 𝘕𝘰 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘍𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 and 𝘚𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 (𝘐𝘧 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘐𝘯 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦) a little whimsical next to everything else going on. It matters little, though. Rowsell’s rallying cry in Smile that “I ain’t afraid of the fact that I’m sensitive” is borne out in a wild and tender third album. Next year's main stages had better be prepared.

(From Record Collector 7/2021)