With their first single off their third album, Blue Weekend, Wolf Alice has cemented why they’re one of the best bands in the UK (as if we needed the reminder.)
“The Last Man on Earth” begins with a pared-down combination comprised exclusively of lilting, melodic piano, and Ellie Rowsell’s exquisite vocals. She sings about the arrogance and entitlement of humans, and how, in a world where relatability and interpretation are often seen as currency, sometimes things don’t have to mean anything in particular. How sometimes, things just are what they are, and nothing more. Roughly halfway through the song, the vocals become multi-layered harmonies laden with reverb and are joined by kit-drum snares and cymbals, which adds to the evocativeness and power as an epic wall of sound begins to spill forth.
As the song starts building with the integration of synths and keyboards, it is at this point that we feel driven to do exactly what the song warns us not to do: allowing it to make us feel something, and molding it to fit into our own sense of meaning.
Come for the vocals, stay for the retro psychedelic riffs, and carry it with you long afterward for the cutting critique of humanity’s egotistical impulses. And then listen to it again for the Kurt Vonnegut reference, because KV is bae.
This is an interesting change of pace for Wolf Alice, one which puts its majestic and emotive vocalist at the forefront and truly allows her to shine. Blue Weekend is due out June 11th, 2021 via Dirty Hit/RCA Records.
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