By Joanna SEBASTIEN DA ROCHA
Sep 19, 2025
OVERVIEW
The Clearing is Wolf Alice's fourth studio album and their first since signing with Columbia.
Rooted in the golden age of '70s bands, the album balances classic influences with a modern, organic sound, where acoustic guitars, piano, and cinematic strings take the place of heavy layers. It's Wolf Alice's tribute to "band bands", less afraid than ever to let their influences show (Fleetwood Mac, The Carpenters, ELO, Pentangle) while shaping a sound that remains their own, making this their most cohesive album to date.
PRODUCTION
Written on acoustic guitars in a small room in Seven Sisters, London, the album began with a more intimate process than Wolf Alice's previous work before taking shape in Los Angeles with producer Greg Kurstin.
This time, the band reversed their usual approach: rather than writing songs and later adapting them for the stage, they envisioned each track as a performance from the start. The result is a "less is more" record— concise, direct songs that capture pop's immediacy while holding onto rock's edge.
Recorded to tape, The Clearing feels both personal and cinematic, carrying the warmth of a live band playing together in a room.
THEMES
"I don't need to solve my unknown identity" - WHITE HORSES
RELEASE
Growing older with excitement rather than worry - Play It Out
Surrendering control and learning to let go - Passenger Seat
Contemplating identity without needing definitive answers - White Horses
Making music to express and release - Thorns
"Would the wounds have healed had you not wrote the words down?" - THORNS
MOMENTS OF PEACE
Intimacy and power of a moment between two best friends - Just Two Girls
The world stopping at the sight of the one you love - Leaning Against the Wall
Taking a break - The Sofa
Finding comfort and safety in a person - Safe in the World
"You take the wheel and I'll stay" - PASSENGER SEAT
SELF-ACCEPTANCE
Celebrating the pleasure of indulgence - Bread Butter Tea Sugar
The freedom to be multifaceted - The Sofa
Growing into your true self - Bloom Baby Bloom
"If it's bad for me, good" - BREAD BUTTER TEA SUGAR
"When they closed the borders you couldn't come, still I felt safe in the world knowing you were there" - SAFE IN THE WORLD
STANDOUT TRACKS
PLAY IT OUT
Tender yet unflinching, this orchestral ballad confronts change, gried, and aging with rare honesty. Its lullaby-like piano swells into a vision of growing older with excitement. It encourages finding expansion, not diminishment, in the passing of time, especially as a woman.
"I wanna age with excitement, feel my world expand. Go grey and feel delighted" - PLAY IT OUT
BLOOM BABY BLOOM
A powerhouse of defiance wrapped in a Stevie Nicks/ Florence Welch-tinged performance. With Ellie's fiery vocals and its addictive chorus, it transforms frustration into resilience, blooming louder and brighter through the dirt.
"I'm so sick and tired of trying to play it hard" - BLOOM BABY BLOOM
THE SOFA
Cinematic strings and jazzy ease frame an ode to contradictions: the freedom to be many things or nothing at all. From love and chaos to simply lying still, it finds beauty in acceptance, and in doing absolutely nothing.
"Sometimes I just want to be no one thing" - THE SOFA