Wolf Alice have returned to announce The Clearing, their fourth studio album, out on August 29th. They’ve also revealed “Bloom Baby Bloom,” the album’s first single and Wolf Alice’s first new song in four years.
The Clearing marks Wolf Alice’s departure from longtime label Dirty Hit, with the new album coming courtesy of RCA Records. It was produced by Greg Kurstin in Los Angeles, marking his first collaboration with the British band. The album finds the group inspired by classic rock and pop from the ’70s, with a press release describing it as something close to “if Fleetwood Mac wrote an album today in North London.”
“Bloom Baby Bloom,” the first offering from The Clearing, finds Wolf Alice leaning into the type of anthemic drama found in their last album, 2021’s Blue Weekend. Built from a sturdy piano line and some syncopated handclaps and tom hits, “Bloom Baby Bloom” finds frontwoman Ellie Rowsell meditating on personal evolution, inner strength, and how “every flower needs to neighbor with the dirt.”
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As usual with Wolf Alice, Rowsell remains an enigmatic vocalist, bringing softness, poise, and fury all at once; her skyscraping pre-chorus, in which she belts “I’m so sick and tired of trying to play it hard” with serious agitation, is a particularly beaming moment of “Bloom Baby Bloom.” The track also arrives with a music video depicting the band with a bevy of backup dancers as they physicalize the song’s cathartic energy. Watch it below.
Of “Bloom Baby Bloom,” Rowsell said in a press release, “I wanted a rock song, to focus on the performance element of a rock song and sing like Axl Rose, but to be singing a song about being a woman. I’ve used the guitar as a shield in the past, playing it has perhaps been some way to reject the ‘girl singer in band’ trope, but I wanted to focus on my voice as a rock instrument so it’s been freeing to put the guitar down and reach a point where I don’t feel like I need to prove that I’m a musician.”
Wolf Alice have more tour dates in the works, but as of now, the group is supporting The Clearing with a set at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Liverpool as well as a major appearance at Glastonbury Festival 2025.
Wolf Alice’s last album was 2021’s Blue Weekend. Revisit our interview with the group, where they discuss the album and its accompanying deluxe version, their favorite songs to play live, and their admiration for Alex G and John Prine.
The Clearing Artwork:
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