Wolf Alice: Nostalgia for the 90s
shot by Maria Kravtsova.
During spring break of 2022, I found myself at the front of yet another life-changing concert – Wolf Alice, a UK-based alternative rock band, live at the crowded Buckhead Theater in Atlanta. I had been anticipating the show for a while, but I was struck by an unexpected demographic in the audience. At first glance, Wolf Alice comes off as your regular indie band, whose fans are angsty teenage girls, sloppily coming out of their tents at Leeds festival to mosh around to distorted guitar riffs and scream lyrics at the top of their lungs. Interestingly enough, however, the audience at their Atlanta gig, which kickstarted their recent month-long US tour, was mostly composed of people at least twice my age – people who probably saw Nirvana live while my existence was questionable at best. Barely familiar with Wolf Alice’s early discography at that time, I wondered what brought all these old people to see an up-and-coming indie band. But, as I got to know Wolf Alice’s music a little better, I realized that what drove the stream of middle-aged couples to the band was their unique blend of 90s punk rock and grunge influences with melodic indie and shoegaze-like instrumentals. The symbiosis of the band’s 90s rock musical upbringing and the diversity of their vocal and melodic range is the culprit of their rising popularity – not only among teenage and young adult indie fans, but also rock enthusiasts from older generations.
In 2021, Wolf Alice released their third studio record Blue Weekend, which, unsurprisingly, brought a lot of attention to a seemingly generic indie rock band. The LP is a showcase of a variety of musical influences that Wolf Alice’s style has accumulated over the years, combined with a generous display of Ellie Roswell’s impressive vocal range. It is truly a masterpiece, an album that is greater than the sum of its parts, especially if you listen closely.
The transitions between the first 3 songs on the record – “The Beach,” “Delicious Things,” and “Lipstick on the Glass” – are practically seamless, creating a continuous musical and lyrical narrative. The lack of obvious breaks between songs draws the audience into the electric atmosphere of the album from the very beginning. At the same time, each song feels complete by itself and constitutes its own jigsaw puzzle of various genres, instrumentals and vocal quirks. A combination of Roswell's electrifying vocals and a diverse genre gradient, Blue Weekend was able to shed light on Wolf Alice’s unconventional approach to writing and producing music and bring the band to the attention of the public, especially outside of the UK.
Undoubtedly, the musical impact of this LP was massive, and it did not surpass the attention of a prominent YouTube musical critic Anthony Fantano, who posted his review of Blue Weekend soon after its release. Giving the album a brutally unfair 4 out of 10, he argued that every song encompasses “an overblown pastiche of 90s alternative and indie rock.” Indeed, the influences of 90s rock in Wolf Alice’s entire discography are prominent and, frankly, self-evident. In a 2016 interview, the band says that growing up in the 90s took its effect on their musical style: “...grunge was part of what we were digesting.”
What differentiates the 90s-like sound of Wolf Alice from “an overblown pastiche of 90s comeback” is Ellie Roswell’s voice. In his review, Fantano describes Roswell as a “vocal chameleon,” and rightfully so – Roswell’s vocal manipulation is unlike that of any other indie artist. Ellie screams on a raging punk anthem “Play The Greatest Hits,” whispers seductively on “Sky Musings,” and masterfully vibrates her falsetto on “How Can I Make It OK?”. Roswell’s vocal range is what ultimately allows Wolf Alice to assemble the jigsaw puzzle of their musical style into its unique shape: her earth-shattering screaming vocals give them space to incorporate grunge and punk elements into their songs, while her enchanting soft voice helps bring ballads like “Safe From Heartbreak (if you never fall in love),” “We’re Not The Same,” “Blush,” and others, to life. Roswell’s vocals on live sets are almost indistinguishable from studio recordings, only highlighting her incredible talent and extraordinary ability to manipulate her voice.
Wolf Alice’s debut album, My Love is Cool, distinguishes itself as a melodic indie rock record with clear influences of punk rock and grunge — Nirvana-esque explosive guitar riffs and raspy vocal leads often coexist with euphonic indie ballad verses within the same track (“You’re a Germ,” “Giant Peach”). As an up-and-coming alternative rock band with a female lead, Wolf Alice also pays homage to fem-punk, which originated in the late 70s. Bombing punk anthems “Yuk Foo” (Visions of a Life) and “Play The Greatest Hits” (Blue Weekend) bring the obvious genre influence to the forefront with throat-sctratching vocals and overdriven guitar sounds.
Moreover, the musical style of many tracks on My Love Is Cool is reminiscent of Siouxsie and the Banshees, a highly influential British rock band that has been described as “one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era” by The Times. In particular, the parallel between My Love Is Cool and Siouxsie and the Banshees’ 1986 album Tinderbox is quite evident, both instrumentally and vocally. My Love Is Cool offers a modern indie twist on an 80s punk rock staple while preserving the general stylistic elements that lead Tinderbox to become the banging comeback of the band at the end of the decade. The drums, the high reverb on distorted guitars, and the mesmerizing choral harmonies evoke the same range of emotions in My Love Is Cool as they do in Tinderbox.
A unique genre found in Wolf Alice’s discography is, interestingly, shoegaze. Their albums are no stranger to howling guitar feedback, ethereal synth ensembles and overly-reverberated vocals. Opening tracks of My Love Is Cool (“Turn to Dust”) and Visions of a Life (“Heavenward”) both feature guitar solos with heavy use of effect pedals, creating an overwhelming volume of sound that drags the audience into the album from the first few minutes; both tracks sound like they could have been pulled out of a box of unreleased My Bloody Valentine singles. “Feeling Myself”, which might be my favorite song from Blue Weekend, culminates in a surreal synth choir with howling vocals and a heartbeat-like drum sequence, reminiscent of something off of Slowdive’s Souvlaki. The influences of shoegaze and dream pop thread all of Wolf Alice’s albums, sometimes in a “mix-and-match” like manner with other genres of 90s rock. “How Can I Make It OK?” starts off with a shoegazey synth progression, but after the first chorus grows into a Fleetwood Mac-inspired indie ballad with emotional vocals and a prominent bass mix. By combining elements of different rock genres of the last century, Wolf Alice is able to create an eerie feeling of nostalgia for the good ol’ times that attracts an older generation of rock-enthusiasts to their music.
As Wolf Alice grew their audience and mastered their style, they assembled musical inspirations from different rock genres of the last century, incorporating instrumental quirks and diverse vocal arrangements and combining them to create an impeccably authentic sound. Like a family heirloom blanket that was stitched together from different pieces of fabric, Wolf Alice’s discography represents a variety of genres of rock from the last five decades and creates a memorable sound, attractive for its seeming novelty to the young audience and for its nostalgic and familiar feel to the older generations. Whether it is “Formidable Cool” with its Amy Winehouse-like kick, “The Last Man On Earth” with its tear-jerking piano melody, or “Don’t Delete The Kisses” with its unrequited love story and gentle whispering vocals, Wolf Alice has a song that will suit the liking of any musical critic (except, maybe, Anthony Fantano) – and if you don’t believe me, I encourage you to try it yourself.
edited by Caroline Waldmann, editor of Music You Need to Know.
copy edited by David Feigelson, Copy Editor and Treasurer.