Wolf Alice

uhhhhhh yeahh aoty

oh yeah this is really fucking good

only halfway through but this already feels like the most cohesive/considered rock record I've heard since the empty country album

"lipstick on the glass"... i apparently love to compare rock bands to radiohead this year but that's some moon shaped pool-esque mastery of dynamics. album is really well-paced too, which is where i felt visions of a life got a little lost

literally cannot imagine how this album could sound better

"how can i make it ok?" my favorite song of all time

yeah this seems like pretty obviously their best album, filler-free and fully realized

and when your friends are talking
you hardly hear a word
you were the first person here
and the last man on the earth

"last man on the earth" right into "no hard feelings" might be the most emotionally devastating thing that ever happened to me lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEfxTD13eLM

That song has a very Fleetwood Mac sound to it. Love it.

I immediately thought of the Mac as well

presale code for the tour is BlueWeekend21. Got myself tickets to 1st night in DC.

Can't believe no-one's mentioned Abba; Feeling Myself sounds like Eagle! Touches of Haim's last album in there too.

This is miles better than the last album. Those first three tracks are something else. Phew well that's a relief.

the only track i'm not completely sold on is "play the greatest hits", the verse is just a little grating

agree that it's very clearly their best album

"how can i make it ok" is really wonderful but should have had like a acoustic guitar solo or something to complete the balearic feel

"safe from heartbreak" is one of the best "short mid-album breather ballads" I've ever heard, and a LOT of bands have tried it

One of those Listening Party affairs is happening at 6pm uk time;

We'll be joining @Tim_Burgess for a @LlSTENlNG_PARTY at 6PM BST today. Grab a blue bev and start your weekend with us xxx #TimsTwitterListeningParty #BlueWeekend
Artwork by @RNRReceipts pic.twitter.com/uY45ZpI6gC

— Wolf Alice (@wolfalicemusic) June 4, 2021

That stretch from "Safe from Heartbreak" to "Play the Greatest Hits" had my head spinning.

my only real complaint is the "Beach" bookends are a little on the slight side, but that's really just "I want more" which is the best type of complaint to have

it was cool that the pre-release tracks didn't really reveal what the album was going for much, like only "the last man on earth" hinted at it, and even though i enjoy it a lot more in the context of the album it feels a bit more obvious than the rest in its big dramatic build etc.

"beach ii" is one of the best songs on the album, swan dive into shoegaze

this album feels 15 minutes long (this is a compliment)

i have said it before but the drummer in this band is a beast

And his background vocals on Safe From Heartbreak are very welcome indeed.

i really want them to next make an album that takes this one's sound and lets all the songs sprawl for 10 minutes each. give me some epics

Yeah, I would have loved an epic a la the Visions of a Life title track. Like to hear them play around with these textures more. I'd be up for that.

From a track-listing perspective though, Delicious Things into Lipstick on the Glass is pretty substantial chunk of album there (and right at the beginning too!).

oh yeah those first three tracks together are incredible

ok i even love "play the greatest hits" now though it's not quite as good at the sort of thing it does as "yuk foo"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5VG2XWUEbA

this album is the midpoint between siamese dream and aerial

anyone getting Susanne Sundfør vibes on "How Can I Make It OK"?

Definitely. And I’m so impressed by the vocals across every track; hooks all over the place.

Last album didn’t do much for me besides Don’t Delete The Kisses, but I’m blown away by this.

oh yeah i hear that alfred

The best Lykke li record that she never made

oh man

this album feels 15 minutes long (this is a compliment)

― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Friday, June 4, 2021 9:20 AM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm, it's inexhaustible

it's like they figured out each previous album felt just the slightest bit padded out and surgically removed the excess this time

there are gonna be at least a few contenders for "best-sounding rock record" this year but this one has the edge so far

love the intensely bratty vocal on "play the greatest hits"

https://www.metacritic.com/browse/albums/score/metascore/all/filtered?sort=desc

Struggling to recall the last time I saw such a positive reaction across the board for a British album.

it seems like it's mostly just uk outlets that have reviewed it so far and i'm sure they're rightfully delighted that a big uk rock band has made something this good. like are there any other uk bands out there making Big Rock Albums that good these days, just the 1975 i think? who are great but way more polarising of course

p4k is already not going to be onboard though, expecting a 7.5 or something in the coming days

i predict they tank the score for fun

j/k

It'd be nice to see this get BNM but I reckon it'll bubble just below

it wasn't on their 'albums to listen to week roundup' so pretty much no chance of BNM

not even the (really great) japanese breakfast album, which seemed like about as BNM-bait as an album could be could manage BNM this week though lol

just realized "safe from heartbreak" could pass for a roches number

Maybe they don’t review it at all.

safe from heartbreak is gorgeous

wonderful record

really want to see it live in a wild crowd