As premiered with an Apple New Music Daily feature just moments ago, Wolf Alice ramp up the excitement for the release of the much anticipated fourth album with new track ‘White Horses’.
The only song on The Clearing to see drummer Joel Amey take on lead vocals before a harmonious duet with Ellie takes hold. What started as a demo born from some lyrics committed to his notes app during a rare car journey with his mum, aunt and sister, Joel returned to the verse towards the end of recording of the new album to expand on a theme. He then took the bones of the track to the band who together built it out to produce a song fitting with the overall sound and vision of The Clearing.
Joel explains, “I was inspired by what songs we had already that were becoming The Clearing; the sonic shapes we were creating, the big acoustics, the harmonies, but I wanted to underpin it with a driving krautrock beat.”
The lyrics are about his family, “We’ve never really known where we came in terms of heritage until recently. My mum and my aunt were adopted, and for years it posed questions of identity and where our roots lay for all of us, but for me, they never seemed like answers I needed to find out.”
As he travelled the world with Wolf Alice throughout his 20’s, his sense of home became more vague. “I was on this big adventure with my best mates, never feeling the need to call one place home, living out a suitcase, all the stuff that comes with being in a band. I felt that the answers to ‘who I am and where do I come from?’ didn’t matter so much; I’d chosen my family and they were the people around me.”
But with many things in life, as Joel got older there was a growing curiosity to get some answers on his background. This curiosity came with some excitement and some fear, but also the security that whatever he might find at the end of that journey, he would always be grateful for the people he already had standing by his side. “White Horses was me trying to put all that into a tune, and Ellie, Joff and Theo helped me all along the way.”
‘White Horses’ follows on from huge album singles ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ and most recently, ‘The Sofa’ which the band shared right after their returning glorious sunset set on The Other Stage at Glastonbury; the cause of many a tear being shed in the fields of dreams. Combining fan favourites such as ‘Bros’ and ‘Don’t Delete The Kisses’ with new songs ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ and ‘The Sofa’ – the slot felt like a victory lap for a band truly at the peak of their powers.
Written in Seven Sisters and recorded in LA with Grammy-winning, master producer Greg Kurstin last year, The Clearing is released on August 22nd and reveals where Wolf Alice stand sonically in 2025, delivering a supremely confident collection of songs bursting with ambition, ideas and emotion; The Clearing is a truly timeless record.
-THE MALAYSIA VOICE
