Wolf Alice, one of the biggest breakthrough independent bands of recent years, today make their eagerly anticipated return, announcing new album Visions Of A Life and a run of shows worldwide, including a UK & European tour for the autumn. Visions Of A Life will be released on 29 September via Dirty Hit.
A first taste of the new record, Yuk Foo, was tonight premiered as Annie Mac’s Hottest Record in the World on BBC Radio 1, and is available to stream and download now. Annie Mac played Wolf Alice’s song Giant Peach – from their Gold-certified debut LP My Love Is Cool – as her first track on her first broadcast when she took over the reigns of Radio 1’s prestigious weekday evening show in March 2015, and this evening repeated the feat for her return to the station. As comebacks go, a gauntlet is hurled by the exhilarating rage-rush of Yuk Foo, briskly laying waste to all it sees in a little over two minutes. “You bore me, you bore me to death,” screams singer and guitarist Ellie Rowsell: “Deplore me? No i don’t give a shit.”
Who the “you” in question is up to us. “We wanted to make it open to interpretation, so that anyone who was frustrated at something could have it as their anthem,” says Ellie. She herself was inspired by “being sick and fed up of certain expectations… for me a lot of it is about being a young woman. Even the shit, everyday wolf-whistle thing. As I get older, I feel like ‘Why have I always put up with that?’ When I sing that kind of song, it’s everything that I want to do when that happens.”
Wolf Alice are Ellie Rowsell (vocals, guitar), Joff Oddie (guitar, vocals), Theo Ellis (bass) and Joel Amey (drums, vocals). The band’s 2015 debut album My Love Is Cool hit No. 2 in the UK charts in June of that year, and No. 12 on the Billboard alternative albums chart in the US. They were nominated for the Mercury prize, Ivor Novello Award, a Brit for Breakthrough Act and Grammy for Best Rock Performance, and took an NME Award for Best Live Band. They crisscrossed the UK, the US, Australia, Japan and Europe on the mother of all two-year tours. Last year Ellie and Theo set up the Bands For Refugees movement, after the horrors of Europe’s migrant crisis and the lack of compassion shown in many quarters shocked them into action.
When Wolf Alice finally came off the road, instead of floundering or foundering, they channelled their restless energy into a forward motion. Regrouping in London, they spent intense weeks in the rehearsal room, working out their experiences in a wealth of new material. With the bones of Visions Of A Life in place, they headed to Los Angeles to turn the songs into an album with producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Paramore, Tegan and Sara, Beck, Nine Inch Nails). Tom Elmhirst (David Bowie, Arcade Fire, Adele) mixed the record.
Visions Of A Life is fundamentally a personal album, and one of great growth for Wolf Alice. From opener Heavenward – a cloudburst of shoegazey guitar and vaulting vocals – through to the epic, eight-minute closing title track, it’s packed with surprises for those who think they know what Wolf Alice’s shtick is.
Now, they’re ready to release the album to the world, starting with Yuk Foo and a run of intimate US shows in July. They today announce a UK & European tour for the autumn, including their biggest headline show to date at London’s Alexandra Palace.
Support:
SUNFLOWER BEAN
SUPERFOOD
