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WOLF ALICE‘Visions Of A Life’ (Album Review)

WOLF ALICE

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With Grammy nominations under their belt and recent exposure in films like T2:Trainspotting, Wolf Alice is a band worth watching. The London-based quartet’s previous releases like the EP Creature Songs and their debut album My Love Is Cool have both been received highly from critics and fans alike. And with their newest album Visions Of A Life being their first release in three years, many wonder how Wolf Alice will raise the bar from the previous sounds of their last release. But as we find out through Visions Of A Life, Wolf Alice don’t really care about success or expectations. In fact, Wolf Alice don’t really about how others view them at all and with their sophomore album, we see Wolf Alice doing what they know best — a nostalgia-filled grunge record pushing boundaries yet again.

Visions Of A Life starts with ‘Heavenward’, the typical Wolf Alice song. it’s guitar driven, has syncopated beats and shows off delicate, drawn out vocals delivered by vocalist Ellie Roswell. Written about the death of a friend, ‘Heavenward’ really displays the overall themes of the album — friendship, love, death and existentialism, which honing the classic post-grunge sound found in My Love Is Cool that everyone came to know and love. It screams, “We’re back, we’re still here and we’re better than we’ve ever been” and it’s comforting to know Wolf Alice still abide by their grunge roots.

After ‘Heavenward’, the experimentation of sound begins with the distorted, rage-filled anthem ‘Yuk Foo’, the groovy Heathers-inspired ‘Beautifully Unconventional’ and the sultry, softly spoken ‘Don’t Delete The Kisses’. With these song being previously released singles, listeners are given a sense of familiarity of delving deeper into the sights and sounds of Visions Of A Life.

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Visions Of A Life takes you through a ride of emotions through this 44-minute masterpiece. There are quieter times on the album like ‘Planet Hunter’ and ’St. Purple and Green’ that explore the concept of existence through choral-like harmonies and hard-hitting centrepieces. And with these tracks come fast-paced tracks like the insanely dark ‘Sky Musings’ and the upbeat ‘Space & Time’. Wolf Alice also explore a side of folk rock we haven’t seen before. Songs like ‘Formidable Cool’ and ‘Sadboy’ involve a distinct twang that place you in the midst of a desert town while working in that iconic Wolf Alice sound that works oddly well.

Throughout the album, Wolf Alice expand on the previous sounds they delivered in their acclaimed debut while involving more influence from bands like The Smashing Pumpkins and The Pixies. Whether it’s Roswell’s spoken singing, the strong displays of percussions by Joel Amey or the intricate guitar and bass pieces Joff Oddie and Theo Ellis present in each song, there’s a variety of experiences shown through this album from the past three years since My Love Is Cool’s release that display Wolf Alice’s strength as a band breaking boundaries.

‘After The Zero Hour’, a transformative point in the album, is an acoustic track in which Ellie recites a tale about a girl, most likely herself, and her resilience. Displaying only Roswell’s vocals, an acoustic guitar and some slight sounds of percussion here and there, ‘After The Zero Hour’ really enhances a sense of calm before their slow-burning finale, the title track ‘Visions Of A Life’. Easily the darkest song on the album, Wolf Alice showcases the strife and pressure they’ve put on by critics and their fans the best way they can. Ellie Roswell’s vocal ability from soft and delicate to rough to screaming rock royalty ascends in each chapter of the song until an insanely hypnotic fusion of grunge and classic rock climaxes this monstrous 8 minute ending.

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Bassist Theo Ellis expressed the making of Visions Of A Life as “extremely concentrated emotional fluctuation”, and this fluctuation is definitely seen in this record. From the high points seen in ‘Beautifully Unconventional’ and ‘Space & Time’ to darkest lows in ‘Planet Hunter’ and ‘Yuk Foo’, Visions Of A Life expresses just that – snippets of life as it happens, seen through the eyes of four people living out the life of being in a band. Wolf Alice have released yet another insanely complex album and time only tells what they do next from here.

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