London based alternative rock quartet Wolf Alice have released their `Blue Lullaby` EP which contains five alternative or reimagined versions of tracks from their third album `Blue Weekend` which was released last year.
This extended play opens with `Lipstick On The Glass` with a cello introduction before Ellie`s breathy vocals lead us along this dreamlike offering with its accompanying intricately played acoustic guitar. The song is about reconnecting with a lover who’s betrayed them and it would seem like the narrator will forgive again although this is not the first time their partner has strayed. The betraying sign this time is indeed the lipstick left on the glass. A strummed acoustic guitar leads us into `How Can I Make It OK?` and sets up the platform for the stripped back vocal. After the first chorus, we are joined by some gently shared drums and delightful vocal harmonies. It`s a tale of a romance that seems to be on the slide which the chronicler moves from almost wanting to save the relationship to kind of acceptance of what seems the inevitable separation.
`No Hard Feelings` is indeed a breakup song and recants realistically moving on with life. The organ underpinning the pained vocal and angelic harmonies almost sounds spiritual or redemptive. It has a heart breaking, haunting quality about it. There`s a wonderful vulnerability to `Feeling Myself` with its hand percussion and drum cymbals giving it a quite eerie, remote, far away vibe. The addition of piano keys and a cello adds a reflective nigh on iintrospective feel.
We close out with `The Last Man On Earth` written about the egotism or arrogance of the perpetrator in a failed relationship. The stripped back texture of this piece with just a piano, vocals and gospel like harmonies allows the song to shift from being quite challenging to some kind of redeeming qualitive nature.
This reworking of numbers from this Mercury prize winning bands last album is a worthy addition to their growing catalogue and Ellie, Joff, Theo and Joel have proven once again why there was such an outpouring of perceived disappointment at them maybe not arriving back from the States to take up their slot on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury. Happily, they made it and for those of us unable to attend, can certainly wallow in the intensity of this latest release.
Rating 9/10
