Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend

Wolf Alice have morphed a lot as artists over the past few years. They’ve defied genre categories and in a lot of ways revived and reformed guitar music. Not particularly because of their experimentation or boundary pushing, but because their sound is distinct. The newest album, ‘Blue Weekend’ is the clearest disciple of this. ‘Blue Weekend’ isn’t a serious departure from their first two albums either. The familiar blends of Warpaint, the Pixie and Sonic Youth come through clear. But there are also elements of folk-pop and the ethereality of 80s pop.

The album opens with ‘The Beach’, it is sumptuous and gentle. It sets the scene for the haziness of the album. Scintillating synths and guitar create wide-open spaces. With the type of summer and spring we’ve had this year, the laisses-faire atmosphere is well-keeping.

While Wolf Alice have never really pushed sonic boundaries or reinvented the wheel, this album is one of the best articulations of their artistic vision. It combines gentle pop with louder, grungey moments. It isn’t quite the firm artistic statement that you’d hope from a guitar band in 2021, but they do what they can do to great effect.

On ‘Delicious Things’, the production and sound are sublime, the melodies are bubblegummy and poppy and they sit at the top of the mix comfortably. One of the better things on this album compared to the two previous ones is the melodic work. They have really embraced the pop qualities that make their music strongest. Although, this lack of abrasion or threat certainly limits it and at times their absence feels too safe and it fades into a wall of background noise.