★★★★⯪

In the year since Wolf Alice returned to the indie-rock limelight with the release of their fourth album, ‘The Clearing’, they’ve soared through the charts, gaining their second Number One album and winning a BRIT Award, as well as headlining major festivals such as Kendal Calling, Green Man and Tramlines. The record brought an air of freshness to their discography through a 70’s Rock ‘n’ Roll revival on their lead single ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ and other tracks like ‘Bread Butter Tea Sugar’; a soft glamour to the album’s accompanying music videos; and the set design on their tour.

For some die-hard fans, this new direction threw them for a loop, as this is by far the furthest Wolf Alice have progressed from the heavy, grunge sound of their debut, ‘My Love Is Cool’. Under all the vibrant production, Wolf Alice have arguably never sounded more themselves, as the record found a natural orbit around navigating stardom, self-discovery and reflections on love and family – topics which made for some of their most memorable lyricism.

Almost a year on, with the release of ‘The Clearing B-Sides’, the band expands upon the softer side of the record with ‘Gospel Oak’, ‘Hammond Song’ and ‘Hit The Sky’. Released upon the announcement of the EP, ‘Gospel Oak’ is a minimalist track that allows plenty of space for its sentimental lyricism to breathe between the song’s unadorned piano and Ellie Rowsell’s hushed vocals. Structured around specific memories of Gospel Oak in Camden, the track’s airiness and soft layering evoke a remembrance of a time long gone, and one that is yearned for throughout.

‘Hammond Song’ sees Wolf Alice cover The Roches with vocal features from Julia Cumming (Sunflower Bean) and Bria Salmena. With the original centring the singers’ sisterhood and a back-and-forth emotional tension around moving away, it’s a natural fit for the band’s rich acoustic sound and reflective writing on this album cycle. Dynamic flourishes of electric guitar and drums bring the track into a more solid instrumental sound following ‘Gospel Oak’, and the track’s layered harmonies are a wonderful focal point that adorns the original. Explained in the song’s release newsletter: “We love this song and actually referenced it in Blue Weekend, but it stuck around as something that inspired us for The Clearing too.” This is a track which has already influenced a chunk of their discography, and so rightfully emerges as another gem within their collection of covers. 

On the EP’s final addition, ‘Hit The Sky’, the band leans back into the folkiness found on ‘Leaning Against The Wall’, and creates lyrical allusions to the album’s standout track, ‘White Horses’. The writing plays on idioms and references iconic musicians to inspire courage and confidence in their addressee, as the track builds with layered vocals from the EP’s previous collaborators, and a jaunty fiddle that guides the song through its refrain, “Wild horses run, but I see you fly".

On ‘The Clearing B-Sides’, Wolf Alice build a coherent expansion on last year’s release, revisiting some of its strongest instrumentation and lyrical themes. In producing two new additions to the world of ‘The Clearing’, as well as a cover that has a significant connection to the band’s pre-existing work, the band has come full circle. But if this is the closing chapter on this era, then it’s one that has stayed true to Wolf Alice’s aims for this record, and has cemented ‘The Clearing’ as the most mature the band has sounded yet.