My Love Is Cool Wolf Alice

Though far from the finished article, Wolf Alice show plenty of promise on their debut release. My Love Is Cool contains the sound and purpose of a band who know exactly what they’re doing. The pace of the album shifts effortlessly throughout while retaining its alluring personality — expressed predominantly through Ellie Rowsell's energetic vocals.

Certainly, there’s a youthful charm to the record that will capture a variety of moments for many of the younger listeners, yet there’s still something here for all types of audiences. My Love Is Cool is a solid debut, and surprisingly focused given the amount of styles it covers, but perhaps Wolf Alice will only truly define themselves as a band once they settle on a totally refined sound.

Here Ellie Rowsell sings about the surreal sadness of adulthood and the realities that come with it, and I for one hope to see Wolf Alice come of age with their future releases.

Appropriately, My Love Is Cool is nothing if not cool. It has a number of great songs, terrific vocals, some of the most original drumming I’ve heard in ages, and it’s all packaged in a fresh and exciting sound. That being said, it isn’t quite there.

Wolf Alice clearly hold a lot of cards, but I’m not sure they’re always played that selectively. The work teeters between being a feast and being a mess. So much ground is covered that you’re left feeling unsure as to what the band’s sound actually is. It’s like listening to a musical prodigy who hasn’t specialised in an instrument yet. That’s part of the album’s charm, of course. It’s easy to understand why My Love Is Cool has resonated with its listeners; the album’s an extended exercise in the promise of youth.

Who doesn’t want to listen to a band that’s unabashed and vibrant and full of potential and not quite as profound and interesting as they’re likely to be a few years down the road? Sometimes that’s just what the doctor ordered. My Love Is Cool is a fine opening gambit, and I look forward to hearing Wolf Alice’s next move.

Wolf Alice’s debut release certainly doesn’t try and be anything other than a debut album. With each track straddling genres, and experimentation laced throughout the tracklist, it makes for an interesting listen that leaves me wanting more.

With ’80s and ’90s influences coursing through its veins, My Love Is Cool features twinkling guitars driving many of the tracks, breathy vocals in one moment only to be broken by grungy shouts in the next and flirtations with reverb soaked synth pads. It’s an enjoyable listen and, having had an extended listening period, it has grown on me more since my initial listens, but to give this anywhere near a perfect score would only be a disservice to the band.

Wolf Alice have clearly experimented with plenty of good ideas in the first half of this decade, but I have a feeling once they find their sound and concentrate their efforts on that, they will be a band to watch throughout the second half.