Wolf Alice – The Sofa
Today, British band Wolf Alice have released their new single, ‘The Sofa,’ accompanied with an official music video, offering another dimension to their highly anticipated fourth studio album The Clearing set for release on August 22.
Shot on the streets of the band’s native North London in homage to the lyrics, the video for “The Sofa” captures the day-dreamy spirit of the song in boldly-colored slow motion. Inspired by classic street photography, these vignettes capture the blissed out interactions of people from all walks of life, celebrating the shared joy we feel with strangers on a sunny day. The video was directed by Fiona Jane Burgess (Christina Aguilera, girlinred, Gucci) and features numerous easter eggs for the band’s up-coming album.
Unspooling like a daydream on an idle afternoon, ‘The Sofa’ is a piano ballad fortified by the best songwriting of Ellie Rowsell’s career – radical in its unflinching honesty. “Didn’t make it out to California / Where I thought I might clean the slate / Feels a little like I’m stuck in Seven Sisters / North London, oh England / And maybe that’s ok,” Rowsell sings. In abandoning the self-consciousness which weighs down your twenties, Wolf Alice reach a point of hard-won serenity.
Rowsell shares: “It’s about not trying so hard to figure everything out, reflecting on getting older and trying not to agonize over things that have or haven’t happened in your life. It’s also about trying to get to grips with the polarising aspects of one’s life when you’re in a band. You’ve just played a huge tour – and you come home, and you have your dinner on the sofa. For me, it’s summed up in how I treat TV. I used to never watch the same thing twice because I thought I’ve got so much to discover! And now I’m like, It’s okay if I just want to rewatch Peep Show for the thirteenth time.”
‘The Sofa’ follows on from the album’s forerunner, ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’.
A fiercely powerful and fervent introduction to The Clearing, it’s an arresting ode to growth, evolution and expansion in life, music and art. With its rolling bass riff, this first piece of music in three years, is a whip-smart de-testosteroned twist on heavy rock. It arrived alongside a video by noted alt-pop director Colin Solal Cardo, famous for collaborations with Charli XCX, Robyn, Christine & The Queens and Phoenix. The video deconstructs a classic rock performance by drawing on Bob Fosse and All That Jazz, featuring a brilliant performance from Ellie in the middle of a host of dancers choreographed by Emmy Award-winning choreographer Ryan Heffington (Euphoria, Sia, Kenzo + Margaret Qualley).
Following a triumphant return to the stage with headlining festival performances at Primavera this summer and a critically lauded Glastonbury set last week; this new era sets Wolf Alice in a league entirely of their own. This fall, the band will be heading to North America for their headline tour which starts on September 10 in Atlanta, GA.
UNITED KINGDOM
May 24 – Liverpool, UK – Radio 1’s Big Weekend
Jun 29 – Somerset, UK – Glastonbury Festival
EUROPE
Nov 5 – Stockholm, Sweden, Annexet
Nov 6 – Copenhagen, Denmark, KB Hallen
Nov 7 – Hamburg, Germany, Georg Elser Halle
Nov 9 – Warsaw, Poland, Progresja
Nov 10 – Prague, Czech Republic, Lucerna Great Hall
Nov 11 – Budapest, Hungary, Barba Negra Red Stage
Nov 13 – Milan, Italy – Alcatraz Club
Nov 14 – Lyon, Villeurbanne, France – Le Transbordeur
Nov 15 – Toulouse, France – Bikini
Nov 17 – Cologne, Germany – Palladium
Nov 19 – Berlin, Germany – Columbiahalle
Nov 20 – Munich, Germany – Tonhalle
Nov 21- Luxembourg City, Luxembourg – Den Atelier
Nov 23 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – AFAS Live
Nov 24 – Brussels, Belgium – Forest National
Nov 25 – Paris, France – Le Zénith
UNITED KINGDOM/IRELAND
Nov 28 – Manchester, England – AO Arena
Nov 29 – Birmingham, England – Utilita Arena
Dec 1 – Cardiff, Wales – Utilita Arena
Dec 3 – London, England – The O2
Dec 5 – Leeds, England – First Direct Arena
Dec 7 – Glasgow, Scotland – OVO Hydro
Dec 10 – Dublin, Republic of Ireland – 3Arena
#wolfaliceband