Wolf Alice - Visions Of A Life

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Wolf Alice are probably the most important band of their generation.

To break through the barriers, every reaction needs a catalyst. While that may be a slightly mangled metaphor, when it comes to music scenes, it has a grain of truth. No matter how much exciting stuff bubbles beneath the surface, there’s always a point where one band has to break through in order to give the others confidence that actually, anything is possible.

That was Wolf Alice’s role on their debut album ‘My Love Is Cool’. While peers had seen success around them - from The 1975’s fangasm provoking self-titled full length to the lesser victories of Peace, Swim Deep, Palma Violets and co - it was their narrow miss on a Number One album that really set the wheels in motion. Only losing out due to Florence’s last-minute Glastonbury headline appearance, Wolf Alice always were the glue that held a multitude of bands together. Carrying their otherworldly buzz easier than most, they were a band in the best sense of the world - each with their own personality bringing something unique to a living, breathing machine. A band’s band, a lightning rod for the creative energy swarming around them, when they made it big, everyone else saw the way.

Since then, the UK underground has blossomed. Bands that were making their earliest steps back in 2015 - Black Honey, The Magic Gang, The Big Moon and more - have sprung forward with the confidence that this world can be theirs. Others - Dream Wife, King Nun, Pale Waves - have appeared, eyes blinking into a post-Wolf Alice world - one where, for the first time in years, being a guitar band wasn’t seen as raging against the dying light. Excitement, energy, having something to say - all things that started to work again. Youthful rebellion hung heavy in the air. To say all of this was down to one band would be folly, but it was Wolf Alice who struck that first killer blow.