Lindsay Macdonald
Wolf Alice is an alternative rock band from London. The band consists of lead singer Ellie Rowsell, guitarist Joff Oddie, bass guitarist Theo Ellis and drummer Joel Amey. Since their first album My Love is Cool (2015) the band have moved through different soundscapes and experimentation, but they’ve always sounded like themselves. Ten years and three albums on, they will release their fourth album The Clearing on the 22nd August 2025.
One thing listeners have come to expect from this band is consistency in quality, allowing many to be excited for every new release because they know that, no matter what, they are in for something unique.
“Rowsell’s voice is soft and delicate, but it’s incredibly strong. Coincidentally, this is a very neat summary of the song and its message.”
The second single release from the new album ‘The Sofa’ is the best example of this. It is a dreamy, life-affirming ballad that will have you romanticising the time you spend resting, relaxing and accepting just how many multitudes you contain, and the time you spend realising just how many lives you have led.
Building An Atmosphere
Musically, this track has a leisurely, winding melody that mirrors Rowsell’s vocals throughout. The song leads with a twinkling piano, and Ellie’s distinct and enthralling voice holds our focus for the entirety of the track. The first line, “Hope I can accept the wild thing in me / Hope nobody comes to tame her / And she can be free” is perhaps a call back to the lyric from their 2015 song ‘Bros’ where they ask, “Are you wild like me?”.
The piano that dances on its tiptoes all along the track and the string arrangement combine alongside vocal layering to create an ethereal soundscape that paints a picture for us, a Monet-esque landscape of beauty and bliss, especially when the listener hears the build of strings that come to the forefront toward the end of the song. The subtlety of the instrumentation works perfectly, allowing the vocal performance of the song to take centre stage.
The Pensive Lyricism In ‘The Sofa’
The lyrics match the reflective tone of the song seamlessly: “I feel kind of lucky right now and I’m not ashamed to say / I can be happy, I can be sad / I can be a bitch when I get mad”. The strolling rhythm allows you to focus on Rowsell’s vocal performance and introspective lyricism as she describes the inner monologue of someone who is accepting their contradictions and their complexities.
“The subtlety of the instrumentation works perfectly, allowing the vocal performance of the song to take centre stage.”
The song also touches on reflection and past decisions: “Didn’t make it out to California / Where I thought I might clean the slate”. The inclusion of this stands out because the acceptance of your contradictions is going alongside the acceptance of your decisions, the soft and tranquil instrumentation lulls you into a sense of freedom in all the things you are able to accept.
The connection to freedom, belonging and introspective wondering has been a continuous theme in the band’s work over the years. Rowsell’s voice is soft and delicate, but it’s incredibly strong. Coincidentally, this is a very neat summary of the song and its message.
Final Thoughts
There is a rhetoric in our modern age which goes: you only regret the things you didn’t do. For some that see the many (many!) people on our screens who appear to be having more experiences than us, it can leave you feeling like there are not enough hours in the day to achieve, progress or experience new things. You regret things you didn’t do all the time, making you wind up feeling like you are missing out on something you haven’t even thought about in the first place.
“This one is for the over-thinkers, the worriers, the people who desperately need to lie on the sofa, watch their comfort TV show and stop giving themselves such a hard time”
This is why ‘The Sofa’ is so life-affirming. Not only does the sound capture your attention, the words capture your imagination. They remind you to savour your life in its mundane moments and accept the ebbs and flows, to enjoy the things that make you happy, even if they are not new experiences: “Just let me lie here on the sofa / And put the reruns on TV.”
This one is for the over-thinkers, the worriers, the people who desperately need to lie on the sofa, watch their comfort TV show and stop giving themselves such a hard time — or, the ones who just simply have good taste in music and can appreciate how brilliant it is to have bands like Wolf Alice around.
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Featured image courtesy of Lindsay Macdonald.
