The fourth studio album from the ensemble from London marks a sonic departure from the band’s earlier work, and catapults them to a new era.

For over to a decade now, Wolf Alice has been one of the shining gems coming out of the London rock scene. With leading lady Ellie Roswell at the helm, the band has garnered much critical acclaim, receiving a Grammy nomination for “Moaning Lisa Smile” off of their debut My Love Is Cool, a Mercury Award for their sophomore album Visions of a Life, and a Brit Award for their third album Blue Weekend. As such, few albums in the alt-rock space were as heavily anticipated this year as the band’s first album with their new label RCA, The Clearing.

In the announcement for the album that came along with the release of lead single “Bloom Baby Bloom“, the band noted that this would be a sonic departure from their previous three records. Roswell stated, “I’ve used the guitar as a shield in the past, playing it has perhaps been some way to reject the ‘girl singer in band’ trope, but I wanted to focus on my voice as a rock instrument so it’s been freeing to put the guitar down and reach a point where I don’t feel like I need to prove that I’m a musician.” The band clearly wanted to take a risk with The Clearing, but the question is were those risks worth it, or ill advised?

Wolf Alice’s attempt to try something new should be lauded. At this point in their career they could have easily played it safe and released Blue Weekend 2. It’s almost like a career change in your early thirties. Scary, but sometimes necessary. It’s a leap of faith, and one I believe pays dividends. While personally I don’t believe it’s as strong as Blue Weekend (a personal top 15 record of the decade so far), it serves as a worthy successor. It’s a mature, intimate record. The slower tempo allows for more delicate moments of intro and retrospection. The songwriting is some of the best of the band’s career, with poignant and striking lyricism on tracks such as “Play It Out” and “Safe In The World”.

One of the other major strengths of the record is Roswell’s singing. Her vocals were absolutely unleashed this time around. That has honestly been one of my main criticisms with other Wolf Alice projects, how much Ellie’s voice had been held back on some tracks. Not here, though. Her voice is booming and commanding, and honestly the highlight of just about every track here, but especially on the lead single as well as on “Passenger Seat”. The standout moment on the album, though, is easily the closer, “The Sofa”. It’s hauntingly beautiful, and leaves you in a state of awe as it fades the record out. It showcases the full depth of the band, and is a perfect blend of their old style with the new.

However, at times, the slow, stripped down nature of the album comes at a detriment. The album risks falling into monotony and feeling too one-note. Though it’s clearly not what the band was going for, it could have really benefitted from one or two harder alt-rock performances akin to a song like “Smile” or “Feeling Myself” from the previous record. When those moments do come on the record, they are welcome, but there aren’t quite enough of them. Thankfully, no song is a true slog, and the more down moments thankfully don’t stick around for long.

In all, The Clearing serves as a great spring pad for a new era for the band. It’s mired in 70s glam and pop rock influences while still feeling modern and fresh. Even in the moments the album stumbles, it never completely falls flat. While maybe not as instantly recognizable as a classic the way it’s predecessor was, it’s a record I can confidently say will age gracefully. It’s hard to say exactly what’s next for Wolf Alice, but at this point, they’ve earned my confidence.

Rating: 8.3/10

Written by Devyn Tammons