Wolf Alice

Wolf Alice distinguishes itself among acts of the 2010s and 2020s through an unmistakable fusion of 1990s indie rock, folk, electronic textures, and dream pop. Recognition has matched that variety. The North London quartet’s first album, 2015’s My Love Is Cool, placed the subtlety and intensity of Ellie Rowsell’s voice and words in sharp relief, collecting Grammy Award and Mercury Prize nominations among numerous honors. Visions of a Life, released in 2017, earned the band the Mercury Prize while introducing further stylistic ingredients and heightened production sheen. Blue Weekend followed in 2021, its soaring yet moody songs reflecting continued artistic expansion that secured a third straight Mercury Prize nomination and the 2022 Brit Award for Group of the Year.

The group began in 2010 when singer-songwriter Ellie Rowsell and guitarist Joff Oddie started performing as an acoustic pair, choosing their name from an Angela Carter short story. Following a self-titled EP, drummer Joel Amey and bassist Theo Ellis joined to complete the lineup. This fuller, amplified version issued its first single, “Fluffy,” on the Chess Club label in February 2013, with “Bros” arriving that May. The official debut EP, Blush, came out that October and drew favorable notices, some writers likening the band to Elastica, Garbage, the Duke Spirit, and Pixies. In 2014 the quartet moved to Dirty Hit and released Creature Songs in May.

Two singles, “Giant Peach” and a revised “Bros,” led into the June 2015 arrival of My Love Is Cool. Produced by Mike Crossley at Livingston Recording Studios in London, the album entered the U.K. Albums Chart at number two, received gold certification at home, and earned nominations for the Mercury Prize, Brit Awards, and Ivor Novello Awards. In the United States it reached number twelve on Billboard’s Alternative Albums chart and yielded the hit “Moaning Lisa Smile,” which climbed to number nine on the Alternative Songs chart and received a 2016 Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance. Wolf Alice concluded this period with an extensive tour documented by filmmaker Michael Winterbottom in the October 2016 semi-fictional film On the Road. The album also appeared that year as a limited-edition box set containing rarities, demos, and the Blush and Creature Songs EPs.

During 2016 the band contributed “Ghoster” to the Ghostbusters soundtrack and began recording its second album. Written in London and tracked in Los Angeles with producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Visions of a Life arrived in September 2017. The set broadened My Love Is Cool’s reach by incorporating psychedelia, dream pop, grunge, synth pop, and additional styles. Led by the singles “Yuk Foo” and “Don’t Delete the Kisses,” it debuted at number two on the U.K. Albums Chart and captured the 2018 Mercury Prize.

After another lengthy world tour, Wolf Alice paused briefly before preparing its third album. The members refined their material over an extended period, including several months in a Belgian studio with producer Markus Dravs amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Blue Weekend emerged in June 2021, lending the group’s sound a widescreen, arena-ready scope that propelled it to the top of the U.K. albums chart and brought a third consecutive Mercury Prize nomination. In February 2022 Wolf Alice received the Brit Award for Group of the Year. That May the band issued the companion EP Blue Lullaby, presenting lullaby arrangements of several Blue Weekend tracks, and performed at Glastonbury Festival one month later.