A promising lead single inevitably leads to higher expectations for a follow-up track. Wolf Alice has raised the bar with Bloom Baby Bloom, an outstanding first song from The Clearing. Where does a band go from there? The hope is that opening strength is carried across the album, and it seems to be the case if The Sofa is to be believed. Another song from the band ahead of their fourth studio album, four years on from Blue Weekend. There’s a convincingly light sound on Bloom Baby Bloom which acts as a gentle push into deeper waters. Wolf Alice has perfected the bait and switch, this promise of light and summery songs with a hidden meaning, a heavy punch of inspired comments on a spiralling world. Their lead single was a masterstroke, and The Sofa is of a similar quality. Ellie Rowsell wanted this to be her Axl Rose moment, a vocal similarity she pitched for Bloom Baby Bloom.
She is easily superior to the Guns ‘n Roses frontman. Old rockheads may shiver at the thought, but it is true. There is a depth and longevity to Rowsell’s voice, evidenced by both singles from The Clearing. Crucial is the vocal range, which will stick with the Wolf Alice singer for many years because these impressive tones and changes are reached, it seems, without damaging their voice. The Sofa is not as strong a song as Bloom Baby Bloom, but it does offer that inevitable, slow ballad style. It’s an expectation of any artist releasing a new album now, but at least Wolf Alice pulls out a fresh perspective. Rowsell’s thoughts on life are of an active and passive blur. There is a want, but an uncertainty about what for. Sex, art, intimacy, it all flickers on and off like a drained lightbulb. Those flashes of interest which come and go at random are profiled brilliantly by The Sofa.
Pulling it back from synonyms and keeping it as the “happy, sad” contrast does the song wonders. It’s a clinical style, a cutting back of all those tangled, confusing emotions. What it also means is that the instrumental work, those inevitable string sections and light piano flourishes, are given the room they need to grow. It’s a slowed tempo and softer tone, meaning the opening lyric is made good on. Rowsell asks not just herself, but the listener, to accept the “wild thing”. It’s a brilliantly hopeful song acting as a necessary counter to all the shuffled doubts heard elsewhere in the alternative rock scene. There’s no shame in the range of emotions we feel, so long as we accept them, as long as we seek to understand them.
The Sofa is a tremendous piece of work that feels lived-in. That’s crucial to the success of this Wolf Alice song. Some listeners will have been there, sprawled out on a green velvet sofa and paralysed by a desire to do everything all at once. But that much is impossible, and unpacking why that is, what we want most of all, is utterly crucial. Wolf Alice does it brilliantly here, and with an earnestness which is not rare for the genre, but certainly hard to come by when a new perspective is involved. There are no prizes for bettering yourself other than the bettering of your self. That’s all. A noble goal, nonetheless, and The Sofa is all about softening the harsh tone we may have for ourselves. It’s an essential listen, one which may prove overwhelming for those who can relate to those languid days, hoping to do something, but being unable to for one reason or another. It’s all validated, but so too is taking action, as The Sofa notes.
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