Wolf Alice

That stretch from "Safe from Heartbreak" to "Play the Greatest Hits" had my head spinning.

my only real complaint is the "Beach" bookends are a little on the slight side, but that's really just "I want more" which is the best type of complaint to have

it was cool that the pre-release tracks didn't really reveal what the album was going for much, like only "the last man on earth" hinted at it, and even though i enjoy it a lot more in the context of the album it feels a bit more obvious than the rest in its big dramatic build etc.

"beach ii" is one of the best songs on the album, swan dive into shoegaze

this album feels 15 minutes long (this is a compliment)

i have said it before but the drummer in this band is a beast

And his background vocals on Safe From Heartbreak are very welcome indeed.

i really want them to next make an album that takes this one's sound and lets all the songs sprawl for 10 minutes each. give me some epics

Yeah, I would have loved an epic a la the Visions of a Life title track. Like to hear them play around with these textures more. I'd be up for that.

From a track-listing perspective though, Delicious Things into Lipstick on the Glass is pretty substantial chunk of album there (and right at the beginning too!).

oh yeah those first three tracks together are incredible

ok i even love "play the greatest hits" now though it's not quite as good at the sort of thing it does as "yuk foo"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5VG2XWUEbA

this album is the midpoint between siamese dream and aerial

anyone getting Susanne Sundfør vibes on "How Can I Make It OK"?

Definitely. And I’m so impressed by the vocals across every track; hooks all over the place.

Last album didn’t do much for me besides Don’t Delete The Kisses, but I’m blown away by this.

oh yeah i hear that alfred

The best Lykke li record that she never made

oh man

this album feels 15 minutes long (this is a compliment)

― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Friday, June 4, 2021 9:20 AM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm, it's inexhaustible

it's like they figured out each previous album felt just the slightest bit padded out and surgically removed the excess this time

there are gonna be at least a few contenders for "best-sounding rock record" this year but this one has the edge so far

love the intensely bratty vocal on "play the greatest hits"

https://www.metacritic.com/browse/albums/score/metascore/all/filtered?sort=desc

Struggling to recall the last time I saw such a positive reaction across the board for a British album.

it seems like it's mostly just uk outlets that have reviewed it so far and i'm sure they're rightfully delighted that a big uk rock band has made something this good. like are there any other uk bands out there making Big Rock Albums that good these days, just the 1975 i think? who are great but way more polarising of course

p4k is already not going to be onboard though, expecting a 7.5 or something in the coming days

i predict they tank the score for fun

j/k

It'd be nice to see this get BNM but I reckon it'll bubble just below

it wasn't on their 'albums to listen to week roundup' so pretty much no chance of BNM

not even the (really great) japanese breakfast album, which seemed like about as BNM-bait as an album could be could manage BNM this week though lol

just realized "safe from heartbreak" could pass for a roches number

Maybe they don’t review it at all.

safe from heartbreak is gorgeous

wonderful record

really want to see it live in a wild crowd

h8 2 austin but who gives a flying fuck abt pfork's response to this album. will check it out later

ellie really levelled up on this one imo...at various points on this record I get little hits of sundfor, fiona apple ("I'm no longer cashing tills, yeah") and liz fraser, but she's also get a presence all her own. the occasional male backing vox are a lovely touch as well

okay, this album rules

rt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX_QelwuC8I

this is the best song

great video too

Brad, do you hear "Love to Love You Baby" in the hi-hat and vocals?

Damn, astute observation Alfred! It's one of my favorite songs from the album.

I'm still really loving this record and Wolf Alice is one of my favorite bands from the last decade. One thing I'll say is that the lyrics seem like they've taken a different turn? Ellie seems to be in a more straightforward writing phase, whereas when I listen back to stuff from My Love Is Cool, her lyrics seemed to have a more poetic bent. I don't think this is to the detriment of the songs in any way. The exception being Feeling Myself, which I love musically, but feels way too on-the-nose for me. I think she had mentioned in one of their recent interviews how after the Visions of a Life tour, she had trouble starting to write again.

idk, I love Blue Weekend a lot and am still listening to it regularly, but just wanted to see if anyone else felt that way about it.

definitely more direct and diaristic than I recall from the other albums

Ok cool. Good to hear that from someone else. Again, I don't mean it as a slight. Visions of a Life had a song that it took me a long time to come around to (Beautifully Unconventional). I think Feeling Myself might be that for this album.

ok, so, "safe from heartbreak"...holy shit

You want a cover of Steely Dan’s ‘Dirty Work’??
(59 minutes in)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000x0gm

No?

nice cover imo

Bit of a catty review in Pitchfork. They always seem to have a problem with bands that are bigged up in the UK press.

Really good this, last month's Worthy Farm mini-gig

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p09l0c6y/glastonbury-wolf-alice-2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhWAx67iGyc

it isn't LOUD ENOUGH

A whole dvd of these videos will surely go on to a ‘Deluxe’ edition of Blue Weekend just in time for Christmas.