L to R: Joff Oddie, Theo Ellis, Ellie Rowsell, and Joel Amey
Digital Cowl Story: Wolf Alice on “The Clearing”
Coming Up For Air
Oct 09, 2025
Net Unique
Images by Shervin Lainez (for Below the Radar)
Wolf Alice have at all times thrived within the in-between, too stressed to settle right into a single style and too bold to stay on the margins. From the serrated noise of 2014’s “Moaning Lisa Smile” to the aching, cinematic sweep of 2021’s Blue Weekend, their music has carried the contradictions of youth into maturity with readability and elegance, swinging effortlessly between tender poignancy and raucous vitality. The Clearing, the British band’s fourth album and first for Columbia within the UK (in America they continue to be signed to RCA), written in Seven Sisters, London and recorded in Los Angeles with Greg Kurstin, finds them older however no much less curious, leaning into pop classicism whereas retaining the musical guile that has at all times set them aside. It’s a report of scale and intimacy, confidence and doubt, playful but honest, nostalgic but fully new.
Because the four-piece (vocalist Ellie Rowsell, guitarist Joff Oddie, bassist Theo Ellis, and drummer Joel Amey) ready to carry the album to arenas, we sat down with Oddie and Rowsell to speak about beginnings, endings, and what it means to shout above the noise whereas holding on to your inventive imaginative and prescient.
After a decade with Soiled Hit—amassing a Mercury Prize (for 2018’s sophomore album, Visions of a Life), a Brit Award in 2022 for Greatest British Group, and a primary album within the UK (Blue Weekend) alongside the way in which—leaving the label to signal with Columbia (a part of the Sony Music Group) was fairly an emotional step to take. Oddie displays on the choice: “Nicely, sure, I imply, we’ve labored with Soiled Hit for a very very long time, about 10 years over three albums, and we’ve developed some actually sturdy relationships with the folks there. Jamie [Oborne—label founder] gave us an excellent alternative, and other people like Ed Blow, the label supervisor we labored with for years, we love him. We nonetheless preserve involved.”
He continues, “We’ve by no means used the identical producer twice, and we’ve at all times favored to strive new issues. This simply felt like the best second in our profession to do one thing totally different.”
And main labels don’t come a lot larger than Columbia. But from the very first conferences, Rowsell and Oddie had an excellent feeling in regards to the staff.
“We met them fairly just a few instances earlier than we signed something,” says Rowsell. “We received alongside fairly properly. That’s what you’re on the lookout for, isn’t it? A pleasant staff, folks you really wish to be round. I feel we even had an evening out with them at one level. They have been a enjoyable bunch, to be trustworthy.”
Oddie echoes the sentiment, emphasizing that the choice was as a lot about chemistry as contracts. “It’s a folks enterprise, actually, on the finish of the day. A giant a part of it’s simply asking: are you going to have the ability to work with these folks? Like Ellie was saying, we didn’t simply meet the A&Rs, we met the broader staff as properly. And we felt, ‘Yeah, this can be a good match.’”
With a brand new label comes a brand new set of experiences and expectations; the query inevitably arises: did engaged on The Clearing beneath Columbia change the band’s inventive course of or add a recent layer of strain?
“I don’t suppose it modified our course of,” says Oddie. “What we did on this report felt extra like an evolution of what we’d already been doing anyway. Will we really feel strain? After all. You at all times really feel a certain quantity of strain.”
For Rowsell, the supply of that strain isn’t at all times straightforward to pinpoint.
“It’s attention-grabbing when folks carry up the most important label factor, as a result of then I begin to suppose, was any strain a significant label factor? However I don’t know if it was as a result of there’s at all times a level of strain, love to do higher than earlier than, to take pleasure in what you’re doing, to understand the concepts you’ve been carrying round in your head. There’s additionally a strain since you’re a bit older, and also you’re like, ‘Shit, how lengthy will I nonetheless get to do that?’ So strain is coming from totally different locations.
“So I don’t know…would I be feeling like this if I have been signed to another person? I’m not really positive—since you don’t actually have a lot to match it to. And I’m additionally undecided how unhealthy it’s, as a little bit of strain will be good in a means, it means you care, and it pushes you to go for issues.”
One of the noticeable variations on this album cycle has been the size of the marketing campaign. It started with the band wiping their socials earlier than teasing a piano riff from the album’s lead single “Growth Child Bloom.” As a playful tie-in, followers even started receiving packets of Wolf Alice-branded flower seeds within the mail. This was adopted by a brand new set of PR pictures. Among the many fan chatter, one element saved cropping up: Oddie’s new look. As soon as near a buzz reduce, his hair is now nearly shoulder-length.
“I feel my hair’s completed the lion’s share of the PR work this time round,” he jokes.
However humor apart, the band have been very a lot concerned in shaping the visuals and identification round The Clearing.
“Possibly prior to now we have been so targeted on the music that a few of that stuff was a little bit of an afterthought,” says Rowsell. “We’ve by no means even had our band title on a report sleeve earlier than. This time it felt thrilling. I began asking myself what else I may become involved in, what else I may get impressed by. The visible facet of the album grew to become a giant a part of that.
“We labored with photographer Rachel Fleming-Hudson, who often shoots portraits however with a really distinct type. She actually jumped into the challenge. She listened to the album a whole lot of instances and ended up telling us what the report was about, nearly like reflecting it again to us. That’s precisely what you need if you’re working with somebody inventive, for them to be that invested. She introduced all the pieces to life fantastically.”
The Clearing seems like a brand new chapter in Wolf Alice’s musical evolution. The album carries a maturity and reflective high quality that speaks to the place the band at the moment are, but there’s additionally a quiet sense of inside peace woven all through the songs. It lacks a few of the angsty, grungy rage that marked earlier moments of their catalogue. Then once more, Wolf Alice have at all times resisted straightforward categorization, with music that hardly ever matches neatly right into a single style.
Now of their 30s, the band members approached this album with a perspective formed by age and expertise. Rowsell turns her gaze towards getting older, motherhood, and the uncertainty of what the long run would possibly maintain. Writing with such candor isn’t at all times easy for somebody who has described herself as fairly a personal individual.
“Nicely, it’s not one thing you concentrate on if you’re younger, beginning out,” she displays. “However I suppose you do have to think about that no matter you write about, folks would possibly ask you about it. So in the event you’re not snug speaking about it, then perhaps it’s not time to jot down about it. I undoubtedly felt that with Blue Weekend.”
That consciousness of development and alter extends to the band’s sound as properly. Oddie displays on how their willingness to discover totally different kinds has outlined Wolf Alice from the start.
“It’s humorous, once I was fascinated with this this morning, I spotted we’ve at all times been totally different and completed various things throughout our albums. We began out nearly like a people band, however even then, we had a music like ‘Fluffy’ which was a lot heavier, ‘Leaving You’ was nearer to a rustic music, and ‘White Leather-based’…I don’t even know what that’s. Possibly some form of indie-goth Remedy music?
“We’ve at all times moved round, we’ve at all times modified. That’s one of many issues that retains Wolf Alice recent and enjoyable and thrilling. And positive, I really like that folks love the heavy stuff. However there are many different bands on the market doing that in order for you it. Possibly we’ll return there once more sooner or later, however this album undoubtedly isn’t what you’d ever name a tough rock album, and that’s tremendous.”
Rowsell provides that the motivations behind the band’s heavier moments have been usually rooted of their reside reveals.
“It’s attention-grabbing, as a result of I really feel like a whole lot of the rationale why Joff and I have been like, ‘let’s make some heavy music’ was to make our reside reveals enjoyable. And with this album, the concept was the identical; it simply didn’t essentially should be grungy, distorted, shouty music. So in a means, we made it for a similar causes as we made one thing like ‘Fluffy,’ it simply got here out sounding totally different this time.”
Work on The Clearing started not lengthy after the Blue Weekend tour got here to a detailed, although the band allowed themselves some downtime first. After months of relentless journey, they wanted time to decompress.
“We had a while to relax, and there have been about three months the place we weren’t working in the identical room collectively,” recollects Oddie. “Among the songs have been written simply after the discharge of Blue Weekend, after which after we completed touring, we began working within the Seven Sisters area collectively round March 2023, one thing like that.”
The title itself speaks to that need to take inventory, to step out of the noise for a second and go searching.
“We had various songs, together with ones that didn’t make the report, which had themes about nature,” says Rowsell. “That steered us in the direction of the notion of The Clearing, which I feel initially got here from a lyric. For me, it embodies having a second of reflection and readability about precisely the place you might be and who you’ve turn into. It’s like if you come out of the woods right into a clearing, realizing that sooner or later you’ll be again within the woods once more. We needed it to form of seize that second of peace and reflection earlier than you keep it up.”
To carry these themes to life, Wolf Alice turned to Greg Kurstin, a producer they’d lengthy admired and beforehand tried to work with.
“I feel we requested him perhaps on the third report,” Oddie recollects. “You form of do this if you’re making information, you strategy folks, verify availability, see how dates line up. It wasn’t going to work for no matter cause then. However he was an absolute pleasure to work with, simply fantastic. I feel he’s a little bit of a unicorn within the trade as a result of he’s among the finest songwriters, among the finest producers, and among the finest musicians. And saying that, he may have one of many world’s greatest egos, however he’s so calm and beneficiant. He actually listened to us and understood what we needed to do. Somebody of that stature may simply have simply mentioned, ‘I’ll do it myself,’ however as a substitute, he was sensible at facilitating us, like a coach.
“We realized rather a lot from him, technical issues, musical issues. Speaking with him on that stage felt perhaps the simplest it’s ever been, even after we have been speaking about intangible issues like sounds or emotions. He simply received it. He felt like one of many gang.”
Trying again over the most effective a part of a decade and a half, Wolf Alice have witnessed an trade in a relentless state of flux. From being probably the most blogged-about band in 2013 to in the present day’s streaming-driven, social media panorama, the foundations of the sport have been something however steady.
“It’s all been altering for the final 15 years within the music trade,” Oddie displays. “It doesn’t really feel like we’ve had a steady second when it comes to realizing how the trade works. Each time we launch a report, the goalposts appear to have moved and other people speak with nice authority about what you want to do now, however I’ve a sneaking suspicion that nobody actually is aware of. To succeed in a degree the place it may be sustainable to be in a band, you actually have to speculate an enormous period of time and sources to get there. So I feel that’s much more tough now for brand spanking new artists. It’s undeniably more durable.
“We’re all nonetheless understanding how this tech works, does the streaming mannequin work, is it match for function, match for creators in addition to the trade? There’s clearly large calls for now on social media, and that was form of emergent after we first started, however now it appears to have grown into an enormous share of artists’ time when releasing information. All of it appears to be altering continuously, which is each thrilling and destabilizing on the identical time.”
At the moment’s music trade strikes at a breakneck tempo, consideration spans are quick, success can vanish in a single day, and new artists hardly ever get the time to develop. “I do fear about that,” Rowsell admits. Their deliberate rollout of EPs and singles main as much as their basic 2015 debut album (My Love Is Cool) is now a rarity in an trade obsessive about on the spot hits. And the challenges rising artists face now lengthen past pace and publicity.
“The factor that actually considerations me,” Oddie continues, “is that solely sure demographics could have the sources to have the ability to make music…which I suppose are usually privileged folks. And the widening inequality gaps…if that makes it more durable and even unimaginable for folks of decrease socioeconomic backgrounds to have the ability to enter the area, then I feel all of us lose, actually.”
Learn our evaluation of The Clearing.
Learn our reside evaluation of Wolf Alice on the 9:30 Membership.
Learn our interview with Wolf Alice on Blue Weekend.
