(SXSW 2014 flavoured!) Bands to Watch #297: Wolf Alice
London alt-rockers Wolf Alice are likely to bring in new fans from all corners at their SXSW 2014 shows next month. Their sound is a hybrid of styles, a slightly unsettling middle ground among cerebral indie folk, bright garage pop, and murky grunge rock. The band has grown from modest acoustic origins to a fully realized rock band, but even with the piercing guitar riffs and heavy bass reverb, they haven’t completely left behind their more organic characteristics, including the multi-tracked vocal harmonies of lead singer Ellie Rowsell.
Rowsell and guitarist Joff Oddie began their career together as an acoustic folk duo, adopting the name Wolf Alice from a short story by Angela Carter, which explores the social civilization of a feral child as she grows into a young woman. It’s an interesting analogy between that story and the development of Rowsell and Oddie as songwriters, especially with the addition of Joel Amey on drums and Theo Ellis on bass to flesh out the more savage emotional aspects of their songs.
Wolf Alice’s debut EP ‘Blush’ is incredibly mercurial for a collection of only four songs, alternating between wispy, breathless vocal lines with hazy bass foundations and frenetic bursts of rhythmic energy overlaid with piercing guitar riffs. The band’s own lyric, from the title track, ‘Blush’ might actually be the best description of their overall sound: “Punch drunk, dumbstruck, potluck, happy, happy.”
After their appearance at SXSW, Wolf Alice will embark on a headline tour of the UK; all dates are listed here. The ‘Blush’ EP is available now on Chess Club Records; watch the video for its first single ‘She’ below.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpnGp7N4tfU[/youtube]
Leave Your Response