Wolf Alice: Visions of a Life REVIEW by Ivaylo S.


Picture this: It’s the wildest night out of your life. Your friends are lost somewhere doing God knows what and you come out of whatever establishment you’ve spend the last 5 hours in. The cold breeze hits you immediately but you don’t feel a thing. You and someone beautiful lock eyes and exchange a smile. There’s the night bus, you have to go. Doors are closing, you are waving, you like them and you’ll never let it show. The party’s over.

That is the emotion that these London geniuses convey through lead single Don’t Delete The Kisses, one of many atmospherically gut-punching pieces on this phenomenal record. It is absolutely ridiculous how many genres this thing can be put into, from dreamy shoegaze to merciless grunge, yet its biggest strengths lie in the unquestionable power of its subject matter. This is an album aimed at capturing the hopelessness of being in your 20s and the feelings that one will inevitably face in this period of their lives.

Toxic relationships (Formidable Cool) and losing a grandparent (St. Purple & Green) are among some of the best written songs of the 2010s while personal favourites Planet Hunter and Sky Musings capture anxiety and psychotic breakdowns in a bottle that one can’t keep but opening again and again. Ellie Roswell and co. have masterfully transcended any and all labels that one might put on them. They are Wolf Alice, they are musicians and they are bloody good at conveying their emotions through their individual talents. Angela Carter should really be thanking them in all honesty!

 

Wolf Alice, Visions of a Life, 5/5

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