4/5
Alice In Weekendland.
Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend like a Daniel Craig 'Saturday Night Live' meme. Alice, Wolf Alice are here for the wonderland that is a 'Blue Weekend'. The foggy, Big Smoke London act back with their own grammar. Waiting at the 80's alien illuminated bus stop like a 'Stranger Things' time on the mist of another night in quarantine. You wait all day and then two come along all at once. The latest London Grammar, 'California Soil' may be a classic soul, but the indie Alice keeps it in the rabbit hole of home. And how this wolf howls into the thunder of the night. This alternative rock act became the best of British thanks to some classics for this generation. After starting out as an acoustic duo, Ellie Rowsell and her indie darlings released a series of EP's (a self-tiled debut, 'Blush' and some 'Creature Songs') to 'Fluffy' fame and acclaim. Then came the amazing albums. 2015's 'My Love Is Cool' bros. Featuring a 'Moaning Lisa Smile' and a track for 'T2's' (still sounds like a 'Terminator' sequel baby) 'Trainspotting' sequel (the smooth 'Silk'). Followed by the sophomore soaring, 'Visions Of A Life' that changed theirs. Making more end of the year lists then Grammys, Oscars, BAFTA's and Emmy's combined for these toasts of the BRITS. The unconventional beauty of the rising Mercury award winner could never delete the kisses for 'Sadboys' in this 'Heavenward', 'Space and Time'. But now following that coming of age portrait like the classic album artwork striking a ballerina pose, there is no more shoegazing. Almost a half decade later the punk rock, dream pop, grunge, psychedelia, folk, space rock, synth-pop, hardcore and electronica act may have released their best work yet this weekend. Our time is blue like Joni or South Korean alt-pop artist KATIE...and we couldn't feel better. Even in these love in times of corona years.
Third time is the charm blue, even if right now in this planets pandemic you may feel like 'The Last Man On Earth'. That lead single is otherworldly though. Rowsell singing in chorus," And every book you take/And you dust off from the shelf/Has lines between lines between lines/That you read about yourself/But does a light shine on you?/And when your friends are talking/You hardly hear a word/You were the first person herе/And the last man on the Earth/But does a light shinе on you?" Alienating narcissists from their own delusions of grandeur. But it's 'The Beach' that opens things like the white soil of a Danny Boyle classic movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Alice's Ellie sings, "When will we three meet again?/In thunder, lightning, in rain/Still sink our drinks like every weekend/But I'm sick of circling the drain (drain, drain, drain)" through the sands of time were we are still kept at a social distance from drinking with each other, even if pubs have reopened. Spiralling out of control were we all need that human touch like John Mayer channelling Springsteen in the 80's for the 'Sob Rock' of his 'Last Train Home'. But like 'The River' of those tones being the song of the summer, this has the haze to be one of the albums of the calendar. Right on the money of the same new music Friday, release date weekend that the mellow yellow 'Jubilee' of Japanese Breakfast's best yet is set to make this one hot Summer like Florida orange for the South Korean born, Asian American sensation. On the 'Smile' of a second single, Wolf Alice stirs the soul even more. Lamenting with lyrics like, "I ain't afraid, though my steps appear tentative/I scope it out, then I throw myself into it/I ain't ashamed in the fact that I'm sensitive/I believe that it is the perfect adjective". A musical sedative to your anxious nights as poetic as the harmony of the "ah, ah's" you will sing along to in solidarity unison. 'How Can I Make It Ok' they ask on their latest single with genuine feeling. Well, with honest and heartfelt albums like this and the single that leaves you with 'No Hard Feelings' for these hard times singing, "No hard feelings, honey/There'll be no bad blood/Losing your love has been hard enough/Life can be short, but life can be sweet/No hard feelings, honey", The next time we meet." Even if we are "cryin' in the bathtub" to the late, great Amy Winehouse's 'Love Is A Losing Game', this one still picks us up off our feet on the kitchen floor.
This wolf is no sheep's clothing. "Would we ever havе tied the knot?/Well, how long is a piece of string?" Ellie asks with classic couplets. Now if you're wondering if this album is chained to Alice's usual classics saving the day like Winston Wolf in 'Pulp Fiction' (word to Los Angeles Laker Marc Gasol), let me ask you. Does she have tea with the Mad Hatter? Does a wolf...I'm sorry, I mean a bear s### in the woods. Taste these 'Delicious Things' and you'll feel more substance behind the licks of a group in their zone. "Ask me where my home is, I say I don’t know it’s/Probably where the boy I love and left all on his own is/He rolls his eyes and cuts a selfish line of blow/He was here for one thing, if he can’t get it then he’ll go but/I don’t care, I’m in the Hollywood Hills/I’m no longer pulling pints, I’m no longer cashing tills/And I’m alive, I feel like Marilyn Monroe/If you are up poppin’ pills, you know I won’t say no", Ellie in storytelling style sings from the cash resisters to the dreams bank rolls can't buy. But it's 'Lipstick On The Glass' ("I take you back/Yeah, I know it seems surprising when there’s lipstick still on the glass/And the full moon rising but it’s me who makes myself mad/I take you.") that truly leaves a mark like a phone number on the mirror, written in Max Factor. Then they tell us we are 'Safe From Heartbreak', that is if open bracket, 'If You Never Fall In Love', point proven, closed bracket, case closed. Wearily warning and scolding in scorn, "As weak as your wording/When you told me you're leaving/Like you don't have feelings/Safe from heartbreak if I never fall in love." Amen to that. This one knowing our punctuated pain is as real and raw as it gets. Rocking out Wolf still know how to 'Play The Greatest Hits' of their signature sound and independent style. They truly our 'Feeling Themselves' on the form of their life safe at home, reaping what they've sowed in the formidable foundations they have made. Even if, "He's had so many lovers/Don't mean he's been pleasing anyone/Doesn't matter 'bout numbers/When it's breaking news that it takes two to love/I was always taught to give/Give and make it good/Just as misunderstood as him/'Cause that's no way to live/And that's no way to play the game of love." But in returning to the shores since their definitive number of 2017 this animal with a human heart returns to the shores for the closing reprise of 'The Beach II' like sunset on the tide. "I sip my wine from a plastic cup/Throw stones in to another/While the sun heats up my liquid rose/And it shines the same fine colour/The tide comes in, as it must go out/Consistent like the laughter/Of the girls on the beach/My girls on the beach/Happy ever after." Every sequel deserves a classic and how about this 'Weekend'? Finally free like Alice from the Wolf, we can live for the weekend once again. Blue, no more. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'The Last Man On Earth', 'Smile', 'The Beach'.
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