WOLF ALICE
Blue Weekend [Dirty Hit]
‘Great guitar hopes’ does a reductive disservice to the brilliance of Wolf Alice. They’ve bagged two No.2 albums and the 2018 Mercury Prize (for 2017’s Visions Of A Life) by being the evolutionary leap into an era where alt.rock, psychedelia, dream pop, grunge, punk and intergalactic next-gen shoegaze intermingle on a binary-defying sonic spectrum. Their third and finest album ventures further still, folding Kate Bush’s operatic mistiness, minimalist art-pop and the odd R&B intonation into a flavoursome stew. Befitting an album about escapism ( dreams wistfully of an exotic postlockdown bender; is an ode to the Hollywood high life) and the turbulent tides of love, an oceanic crescendo is never far away. More vulnerable moments (, ) are appropriately tender. Another near-faultless Wolf Alice wonder and a contender for album of the year.
