Blue Weekend

Wolf Alices immensely successful second album, Visions of a Life, suggested they could go in any number of directions, but the one they chose for Blue Weekend is big with a capital B. On the bands third album, they play to the back of the arenas and stadiums these songs were designed to be performed in. Wolf Alice announce their ambitions -- and their ability to deliver on them -- with the vast two-part song The Beach, which opens the set by swelling to ever-greater peaks and closes it on a sweetly philosophical note. In between, Blue Weekend demonstrates just how much the groups power and control have grown in the four years since Visions of a Life. The extra time they spent polishing the album in the studio with producer Markus Dravs during the COVID-19 lockdown was well spent: though songs like the luxurious Los Angeles homage Delicious Things reach a massive scope quickly, Ellie Rowsell always maintains a connection with her audience as she and the band zoom in and out from intimacy to majesty with cinematic skill. Even as they take their dream pop to epic new heights on the hauntingly seductive Lipstick on the Glass, theyre still capable of capturing tiny nuances on songs such as Feeling Myself, where Rowsells introspection also reflects the voyeuristic nature of witnessing someone elses self-expression. Even more so than on their previous albums, Wolf Alice stretch themselves emotionally as well as musically, particularly on How Can I Make It OK?, a striking power ballad equally indebted to Cocteau Twins and Olivia Newton-John that surges forward on a huge riff as Rowsell sings to live in fear isnt to live at all. Though Blue Weekend is dominated by slower songs, its outbursts are just as vital. Smiles collage of funk, industrial, pop, and acoustic elements is muscular and vulnerable at the same time, with Rowsell snarling I aint ashamed of the fact that Im sensitive, then declaring If you dont like me/Well, that isnt f*cking relevant soon after. The bands famed stylistic shifts feel more natural than ever, whether theyre rocking out or harking back to their folky roots on Safe from Heartbreak (If You Never Fall in Love) and No Hard Feelings, a song about acceptance that skips away from heartache with deceptive ease. Songs like these ensure Blue Weekend never feels overwrought despite its ambition and lengthy creative process -- instead, its the kind of big, unabashedly emotional album that people make memories to, and some of Wolf Alices most confident and fully realized music. ~ Heather Phares

ロンドンの4人組が愛を歌う3年ぶりの新作はオルタナ・ロックならではのヒリヒリとした感覚を残しながらメインストリームで勝負できるダイナミックさを見事、手に入れた。それが顕著に表れた80s風ポップ・バラード"How Can I Make It OK"からの激情パンク"Play The Greatest Hits"という流れには思わず眩暈を感じずにいられないが、それこそがウルフ・アリスの本質なのだろう(それを象徴するのが最新のアーティスト写真における紅一点シンガー、エリー・ロウゼルのゴシック・ファッションか)。その軸がぶれない限り、トラッド・フォークからヒップホップまで音の幅を広げてもその世界観が揺らぐことはなさそうだ。包容力を身につけた成長はクランベリーズの軌跡とちょっと重なったりも。
bounce (C)山口智男