Since they began in London, England, in 2010, Wolf Alice has gone from a duo to a fuzzy, grungy band, to one that now brings out all kinds of feels from the 1970s.
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that → begin → 1970s
Now up to four albums along with a series, four EPs (including one of lullabies) and a long list of singles, the band has won both the prestigious Mercury Prize for Britain’s best album of the year (Visions of a Life, 2018) and a Brit Award for Best British Group (2022).
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band → include → Group
I had a chance to talk with singer Ellie Rowsell, guitarist Joff Oddie and drummer Theo Ellis between shows in Montreal and Toronto.
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I → have → Montreal
You were into a sort of a grungy phase for a while, and then there was this dream pop phase.
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You → be → while
And now this, with the most recent album, it’s got some ’70s vibes to it.
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it → get → it
How do you decide to do these things?
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you → decide → things
It’s always risky for a band to change direction like that.
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band → ’ → that
Have there been situations where you’ve tried to go in a specific direction and thought, “no, this isn’t working,” so you go somewhere else?’
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you → try → direction
No, I feel like pre-The Clearing, we just did wherever our inspiration took us and then just picked the best songs, you know.
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you → feel → songs
It was only till The Clearing that we kind of spoke in advance about how we wanted things to sound.
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things → speak → advance
What did you say?
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you → say → What
How did you speak of it?
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you → speak → it
Yeah, we were listening to a lot of stuff, weren’t we?
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we → listen → stuff
We listened to a lot of Beatles, a lot like the Carpenters, and people that were kind of doing I suppose the pop music at that time was framed around band-ness.
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I → listen → ness
So it’s an interesting kind of focal point for us to look back and think, kind of, you know, pop music in band form.
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you → ’ → form
What does that actually look like?
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that → look → What
Did recording in LA influence any of this?
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recording → influence → this
Did you use tape or was this all digital?
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this → use → tape
We bounced.
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We → bounce → ?
When we first got there, we described to Greg what we were trying to do and he was like simultaneously buying a brand new tape machine while we were talking about our influence, how we wanted things to kind of feel and sound.
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things → get → influence
And so we wanted that tape feel.
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we → want → feel
So yeah, we’ve got a lot of the elements, particularly I think all the drums, I think, are bounced to tape and then sent back into the computer.
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I → get → computer
It starts as a California type pop song with a monotone delivery from Joff.
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It → start → Joff
And then Ellie comes in with this vocal that is a complete counterpoint to everything else and then it all resolves quite sophisticatedly back into the monotone as the song continues to build towards its climax.
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song → come → climax
Where did you come up with the vocal line for that in the middle?
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you → come → middle
Because it’s so different from everything else that’s happening in the song.
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that → ’ → song
I don’t actually know where that kind of like Dolores O’Riordan—I don’t know what the word is, like lilting or something, or like yodel-y vibes, isn’t it?
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it → know → vibes
I was just trying to think of other little elements we could put in, and then as it does, it evolves.
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it → try → elements
And I remember we remember struggling at one point to kind of work out like what bit should go where, what’s the chorus, and Greg was just like, it should be like this, this, this, and this, right?
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it → remember → this
What do you find different about touring North America versus touring, say, the U.K. and Europe?
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you → find → U.K.
I think Canada and America feel very different.
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Canada → think → ?
I mean, state by state, city by city, it all feels so distinct, you know, very, very different places.
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you → mean → city
So, I almost wouldn’t want to generalize this.
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I → want → this
Speaking of playing, what was your worst gig ever?
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gig → speak → playing
We thought we were going to get signed at this really small show in London, a place called the Lexington.
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we → think → London
So we’re playing a song called Leaving You . Yeah.
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we → play → You
Which is the song that starts with Ellie singing and playing guitar.
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Ellie → start → guitar
And then there’s a moment where everything comes in all at once.
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everything → ’ → ?
The mood’s right, it hits in and it’s dreadful.
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it → ’ → ?
It’s absolutely awful.
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It → ’ → ?
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
