Visions of A Life is the sophomore album from London-based indie rock outfit Wolf Alice. The follow-up album to 2015’s critically acclaimed My Love Is Cool sees the band delve into a wider array of genres with mostly successful results.
The opening track ‘Heavenward’ is undoubtedly shoegaze influenced, with the epic sound of fuzzy guitars, reverb and lead singer Ellie Rowsell’s dreamy vocals.
The dreaminess is soon cut short, with Rowsell sounding manic on the punky lead single, ‘Yuk Foo,’ screaming such bizarre lyrics as “I wanna fuck all the people I meet/Fuck all my friends and all the people in the street.” The jarring change of tone to is perhaps the biggest downfall of the album, coming across more as a mixtape of various inspirations than a truly flowing LP.
The next track, ‘Beautifully Unconventional,’ is a simple, upbeat track just over 2 minutes long. In a Radio 1 interview, Rowsell stated “It’s inspired by a friend of mine, me kinda imagining us as Christian Slater and Winona Ryder in that film Heathers.”
Following that is the album’s second single, ‘Don’t Delete the Kisses,’ returning to the same dreamy style of the opener. The lyrics tell of Rowsell’s doubt in the concept of love, singing “What if it’s not meant for me? Love,” in the chorus. This is where Wolf Alice truly show their strength, turning a sensitive intro into an unadulterated rock track, showing the band’s wide range as musicians.
‘Planet Hunter’ begins as a quiet, acoustic track yet it becomes bigger and bigger as the track continues, adding a drum pattern and synths and ending in a shredding guitar solo. This is where Wolf Alice truly show their strength, turning a sensitive intro into an unadulterated rock track, showing the band’s wide range as musicians.
‘Sky Musings’ sees Rowsell whispering her lyrics through spoken word over a dark instrumental with a pulsing drum beat and swelling synths. The lyrics are a worrying train of thought about fear of crashing from the sky in an airplane. “If we crash, if we crash, imagine that.”
The rest of the album continues to take inspiration from many different genres, with ‘Formidable Cool’ being a groovy dance-rock track, ‘Sad Boy’ having a folk-rock outro and ‘St. Purple and Green’ sounding having a choral intro disrupted by distorted guitars, completely changing the track. The album’s last track is close to an eight-minute-long epic, with screeching guitars and distinct Krautrock features.
The album’s biggest strength is perhaps its biggest downfall too. The wide array of genres touched on by Wolf Alice makes this a disjointed, experimental but wholly enjoyable listen for a difficult second album.
Visions of A Life is out 29 September. Wolf Alice play the Olympia Theatre Dublin 28 November.
