Wolf Alice is no stranger to an all-out performance. The first time I saw the London-based band at The Fillmore Minneapolis was during the tour for their 2021 album “Blue Weekend.” Their set, a mix of songs from the new record and other darker, moodier prior releases, was lightened only by a few upbeat hits—namely, their most famous song, “Don’t Delete the Kisses.” The tone of that tour, however, was extremely clear: betrayal and heartbreak inspired many of the pieces they performed. The lights were mostly blue. Lead singer Ellie Rowsell looked straight ahead throughout the show, rarely glancing down at the crowd, a full dedication to her stoic, firm and sharp performance. Much like the sound they’ve developed by band-defining songs like “Formidable Cool” and “Lipstick on the Glass,” the group’s performance felt deeply personal, piercing and melancholic.
I was sure that nothing could top “Blue Weekend.” It is my definition of a no-skip album. So when the band announced their new record “The Clearing,” which was released on Aug. 22 of this year, I followed closely with each single. While abroad, I even saw them perform at the BBC1 Big Weekend festival in Liverpool, a much larger stage than those in Minnesota, and was in awe of their English fanbase. They had only just released their first single of the album, “Bloom Baby Bloom,” and performed it alongside the unreleased “Thorns.” It was clear from that performance and singles that Wolf Alice was redefining themselves as a band and trying something absolutely new. I bought tickets for their First Avenue show as soon as they went on sale, and when I listened to “The Clearing” for the first time, I knew their performance would add even more texture and meaning to an already vibrantly kaleidoscopic album.
Complete with metaphorical and direct floral and animal imagery, “The Clearing” feels natural in every sense. Opening the show with “Thorns,” Rowsell erupted into beautifully layered runs with strings building and layering upon her vocals in an almost broadway-like proclamation. Her live belting and accompanying guitar and background vocals culminate in her last line: “The sun goes down, the curtain lifts, and I sing a song.” The band then steered their First Ave. crowd through their work, jolting between strobe light blaring guitar and spotlight acapella vocals. If “Blue Weekend” was about the angst of heartbreak and growing older, “The Clearing” is a hymn of acceptance, a wisdom built by referencing their aggressive tone through a more restrained, cinematic musical language.
It was clear throughout the First Ave. show that Wolf Alice was having fun in a way they haven’t before. For the first time I’ve seen, Rowsell and other band members waved and spoke to audience members, singing directly towards the crowd, jumping and smiling. Their embrace of melody, simpler chord structure, and the barer, more guitar forward songs (“White Horses”) , still worked with the formula of a usual Wolf Alice album, allowing Rowsell time at the piano and other members time at the mic. The collaboration and love between bandmates drove the show through each piece as they cheered each other on. Still, there was room for quiet moments to reflect on the themes of their record in “The Sofa” and “Play it Out.” Rowsell sang: “In sickness and good health, I promise to love and cherish myself.” The band accepts that their dreams may be different from what they were in “Blue Weekend” – while the former album described an attempt to move to California from London as a dangerous but exhilarating time in “Delicious Things,” the latter’s final song “The Sofa” sorts through the feeling out loud: “Didn’t make it out to California where I thought I might clean the slate / Feels a little like I’m stuck in Seven Sisters North London, oh, England / And maybe that’s okay.”
The raw nature of Wolf Alice’s songwriting has been consistent throughout their releases, but now the band is ready to embrace their success and experiment. No longer fully bound by the same teeth-baring wolf aesthetic that drove many of their surging and electric rock songs, they now expand on the more playful and charming, inviting tones, almost reminiscent of releases far earlier in their careers, like 2015’s “Freazy.” As a band still growing with every release, it is particularly exciting to imagine how they will build on what they’ve done so far into the future. In their last tour, the band announced a second US leg much later than the release date, and fans in Minnesota and around the world are sure to be waiting for the next announcement, and for tickets to sell out once again.
