The Clearing makes a convincing case for Wolf Alice at an adult-rock peak: the band trades some of the fuzz and shoegaze haze of Blue Weekend for open arrangements, warm melodies and a more assured classic-pop-rock sound. That is a critical judgment, not an official genre label or an undisputed verdict. The album reached No. 1 on the UK Official Albums Chart, while critics disagreed about whether its polish sharpens the songs or smooths away too much of the band’s edge.
What is The Clearing?
Released on 22 August 2025 through RCA and Columbia, The Clearing is Wolf Alice’s fourth studio album. The band wrote it in Seven Sisters and recorded it in Los Angeles with producer Greg Kurstin. Apple Music lists 11 tracks and a 40-minute runtime.
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The tracklist runs: “Thorns,” “Bloom Baby Bloom,” “Just Two Girls,” “Leaning Against The Wall,” “Passenger Seat,” “Play It Out,” “Bread Butter Tea Sugar,” “Safe in the World,” “Midnight Song,” “White Horses,” and “The Sofa.”
Why does it sound softer than Blue Weekend?
Where 2021’s Blue Weekend often used widescreen dream-pop, alt-rock fuzz and shoegaze effects, The Clearing leaves more air around its songs. Its warmer, more analog-sounding palette draws on 1970s soft rock and classic pop-rock. The difference is not simply a drop in volume: the arrangements emphasize melody, space and vocal presence over layers of distortion.
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- Wolf Alice
- The Clearing
That shift reflects a deliberate writing approach. Bassist Theo Ellis told Apple Music, “I don’t know whether it’s age or whether it’s having done this for the fourth time, but less was more with this record.” Singer Ellie Rowsell described the decision to embrace the softer side of rock: “Maybe there are people who are scared of rock music that is soft. ‘Soft rock’ has felt like something I should never say out loud up until now.” Apple Music’s album notes cite Fleetwood Mac, George Harrison and Pentangle among the band’s listening references.
Where the new palette comes through
- “Leaning Against The Wall” brings a shuffle into the record’s relaxed, melodic approach.
- “Bread Butter Tea Sugar” has a buoyant motion that Apple Music compares with ELO and the Beach Boys; its guitar lines show Joff Oddie working within the lighter arrangement.
- “Bloom Baby Bloom” supplies a more energetic contrast, while “Play It Out” turns toward reflection.
- “White Horses” draws together folk and krautrock elements, keeping the album’s softer palette from settling into one mood.
What is the album about?
The record connects getting older with self-interrogation, nostalgia and the possibility of making peace with the journey so far. Its songs also make room for friendship and self-image, concerns that surface especially clearly in “Just Two Girls.”
Rowsell said the song grew from dinners with friends, “a couple of friends, at different times, just one-on-one.” She described those conversations as validating while thinking about getting older and appearance, and said “there deserved to be a song about that.” The subject gives the album’s broader reflections a grounded, conversational center.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Does the softer sound make it Wolf Alice’s best album?
It makes the case for a band confident enough to leave space in its arrangements and let songs carry themselves through melody. Sony Music Canada called the release “a classic pop/rock album that nods to the ‘70s while remaining rooted firmly in the present.” The label also described it as the band’s most refined work yet; that is promotional language, not a settled critical consensus.
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Rank #3
Pitchfork offers a pointed counterargument: it hears a glitzier production that sometimes feels too polished, with some of the band’s sharp edges sanded down. Its review praises “Passenger Seat” and “Bread Butter Tea Sugar” as evidence that the pop turn works, while criticizing repetition in “Just Two Girls” and production choices on “Leaning Against the Wall.” The disagreement gets to the album’s central tradeoff: clarity and restraint can reveal a song’s shape, but they can also make Wolf Alice feel less volatile.
Commercially, the record reached No. 1 on the UK Official Albums Chart in 2025. That is a clear chart peak, not evidence that it is artistically the band’s best album. “Adult-rock peak” is most persuasive as a description of the group’s maturity and command of this particular sound—not as an objective ranking or a claim that every listener will prefer it to the band’s earlier work.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
Sources
- Wolf Alice Official Store — album details and formats.
- Apple Music — album listing and editorial notes.
- Sony Music Canada — release-day description and Rowsell’s comments on “Just Two Girls.”
- Official Charts Company — UK chart peak.
- Pitchfork — review and critical counterpoint.
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