INTERVIEW: Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice on their third album 'Blue Weekend': "I was afraid of showing people something that was worse than what we'd already put out"
Interview: Jett Tattersall
Image: Jordan Hemingway
UK pop-rock band Wolf Alice today release their third album Blue Weekend. It is the follow up to their Mercury Award winning album Visions of a Life (2017) and although the initial conception of the album was difficult, the end result showcases the band at their absolute best. There is a growth and maturity in their sound, and the album offers a lush, immersive soundscape, mixing genres in a way that is utterly accessible. From powerful guitar-driven rock tracks to more introspective, gentle acoustic moments Blue Weekend also reflects lead singer and songwriter Ellie Rowsell’s growing ease with examining herself through her lyrics.
We recently caught up with Ellie to chat all about the creation of Blue Weekend.
Hi Ellie. So lovely to speak with you. Can I just congratulate you on Blue Weekend? It’s so beautiful. The sound is still very distinctively Wolf Alice but it's also strengthened and softened at the same time on this album. What were your initial desires behind this creature as a whole?
I don't really know if I had an incentive or anything, you know? Because with this album, we didn't go away and ‘write it’. it was just more that eventually we had enough songs to be like ‘okay let's put together an album’. Someone told me the other day that they had asked me what do you want to do after Visions of a Life and I had said ‘I want to write a really fun album’. So I must have at one point had an idea of what I wanted to do but it never works out like that. The songs just come to you rather than you decide to make a certain concept.
On that can you talk me through the creative and recording process for the album?
When we came off tour for Visions of a Life, we had been touring for a few years. I remember coming off tour and being ‘shit i haven't written any songs’. And I didn't even really want to write any songs because I really just wanted a break from music. After about six months off, I was like ‘shit, we really need to think about what we're going to do next’. So we booked an Airbnb and just went away together, no pressure, just to see if we write anything. I actually had a couple of demos but I was afraid of showing people something that was worse than what we'd already put out, do you know what I mean? It was a confidence thing, I just said to myself I don't have anything. But it was really nice because the guys were like ‘these are really good’ and we figured out that we did have some stuff and that we weren't going to have to completely start with nothing. So we built upon those demos until we felt ready to go away and record with a producer.
On that note, your lyrics are incredible. I feel they're standalone prose, they walk this fine line between being very personal to you while at the same time being quite broad so the listener doesn't feel like they're watching in. They can reflect it themselves which is a tricky thing to do. When it comes to writing, have you always leaned towards the poetry or the melody first?
It's not poetry that I lean to but it's just the words. Poetry is so different from lyrics even though you would think that it would be quite similar, it's really not. I've tried poetry and it's just a real different ballgame. The thing that I always feel proud of if I’ve done a good job is the words. maybe because i find it really hard as well. So for me it comes first.
Where do you think the power of music lies? Is it in that melody or is it in the sentiment? Is it in the words? Or for you, is it a combination of both?
There's no right answer to that. Obviously the music that connects the most is going to be one that puts equal effort into both. There are songs that don't have any words that make me feel something and there are songs where the words without the music are going to make me feel the most There are songs that we've written before where I’m like I love this, the music is great, but the lyrics aren’t great or the other way around. It's really hard to always get both to a level that you are satisfied with. You are super lucky if you are happy with both.
How do you feel you've changed or grown both as an artist and as a collective band, but also as a song writer across your three albums?
This album for me, I just wrote things that I knew because I enjoyed it rather than trying to write things that I felt was expected of me or, it's ridiculous to say, trying to be cool. I really wrote things that I knew that I would enjoy playing or singing. I always quote this thing that [singer and producer] St Vincent said, you spend your whole life trying to outdo yourself in song writing and trying to be clever and write something that no one's written before or won't expect of you and then eventually you just want to write songs that will be the songs that will be your favourite songs. Songs that are played at people's weddings or funerals and stuff like that. When I was younger I would try to avoid writing songs like that, and it is actually now what i quite enjoy doing. Simple things that I felt were embarrassing to write before, now I don't really care. Basically I’m not embarrassed anymore. I just do what I enjoy without being embarrassed.
Blue Weekend is out now via Dirty Hit Music. You can buy and stream here.
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