Wolf Alice live in London on December 20th, 2018 (Sam Huddleston / Live4ever)
Witnessing the moment when Wolf Alice scooped the Mercury Prize, and to see it spark off a debate about how diverse its shortlist currently is and how much further it should stretch, was interesting.
Suggestions were made about the band’s music being too narrow, but narrow in what way? Entering mainstream territory whilst incorporating genres as diverse as folk, alt-rock, punk and pop makes the band reach further than some of their peers, and their wide appeal speaks volumes: in addition to securing the Mercury Prize, other achievements this year and last have been as credible as they were glamorous, including securing support slots with Queens Of The Stone Age, Foo Fighters at Etihad Stadium in June and Liam Gallagher at Finsbury Park.
Self-labelling their music as ‘rocky pop’, other suitable tags are grunge-pop or dreamy alt-rock. In the best possible way, their music is of a generic type, measured and evenly balanced to extremes.
Sonically there are explosions, arresting and well-positioned starts and stops, thunder, lightning and attitude, but everything is sublimely controlled through the filter of frontwoman Ellie Rowsell. Ultimately, what makes the band unique is that nothing is ever overdone, everything is finely tuned in remarkably detailed ways with enough left to still make a strong impact.
What’s about to unfold this evening (December 20th) is the depth of their grunge-pop, how far it reaches and what some of the effects are. Ellie’s prodigious, bendable vocals wield largely within soprano territory and definitely have a huge part to play in this.
Suitably kicking off the set with the grunge-tastic, Courtney Love-sonics of Yuk Foo distributes appropriate doses of attitude, energy and vibrancy, leading superbly to You’re A Germ and the Breeders, Throwing Muses-echoing sounds of Lisbon. 90 Mile Beach takes things down a couple of gears whilst its guitar solos create an infectious inferno of sound. So far, things are beyond good.
It’s now time for the My Bloody Valentine-light sounds of Bros, leading to huge applause and a huge smile from Ellie, which makes way for the outburst and intense sentiment of Blush and subsequently sparks the moment bassist Theo Ellis describes as ‘very emotional’. The anthemic magnitude of Don’t Delete The Kisses, Beautifully Unconventional and Space & Time position them as definite highlights as they lead to intensified crowd engagement and energised responses.
Not neglecting the fact that the band are signed to independent label Dirty Hit, their encore comprising the progressive rock spheres of Moaning Lisa Smile and Giant Peach only goes to solidify Wolf Alice’s position as one of the most relevant contemporary alt-rock bands operating within the mainstream of music, the members more than capable of transcending what they are doing right now and the expectation for this is definitely there.
With support for them currently being plentiful, it only makes sense for us to share that ambition and journey.