Wolf Alice Debuts New Album ‘Visions of a Life’
Chaotic quality hinders the sophomore effort from North London alt-rockers Wolf Alice. Sometimes a record can be summarized in one song. Case in point, the title track, “Visions of a Life” from their new album. The experience goes like — pretty good — good – holy hell that’s amazing — meh — could we go back to the awesome part? No, okay— good again— I appreciate the ambition, but this has gone on too long.
Like their debut, My Love is Cool, Wolf Alice’s second album Visions of a Life has plenty of songs filled with promise with a couple of misfires sprinkled in.
Wolf Alice are: Ellie Rowsell, vocals, guitar; Joff Oddie, guitar; Theo Ellis, bass; and Joel Amey, drums.
The record starts off with the gorgeous “Heavenward” which recalls some of the best of the ’90s shoegaze movement a la Lush. Not all the shoegaze material works though; “St. Purple & Green” comes out of the gate sounding like My Bloody Valentine but never finds an idea to lock onto for the song to truly coalesce.
Whenever the band chooses to engage in full-on rock mode, it succeeds. “Yuk Foo” and “Space & Time” never outstay their welcome by keeping things simple and adding some nice flourishes to keep things interesting.
The standout track on this album is undoubtedly “Don’t Delete The Kisses.” The song is built on a simple drum loop that allows the band to fully flesh out a wonderful dream pop number. The sung whispers that singer Ellie Rowsell uses surmises an intimate love affair, quite effectively.
The whisper singing is strangely used multiple times on this record, with diminishing returns. The record could have benefited greatly if a couple tracks were knocked off.I do admire that they aren’t afraid to experiment. The problem is that the gambles don’t always pay off while keeping simple does.
Rating: 3.5/5
Suggested Tracks: “Heavenward,” “Space & Time” & “Don’t Delete The Kisses”
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