LOOKING AT THIS YEAR'S MERCURY PRIZE WINNER: WOLF ALICE 'VISIONS OF A LIFE' ALBUM REVIEW
As you may have heard, on this past Friday, the annual Mercury Prize award was given to British indie band Wolf Alice for their 2017 album ‘Visions of A Life’. Wolf Alice, have been on the rise for some time now. With a short-list full of some huge names, admittedly it was nice to see a band that could really appreciate the press and advantages the award gives, in order to even further their career which looks hugely promising.
With Wolf Alice going against some huge names such as Lily Allen, Arctic Monkeys, and the iconic Noel Gallagher it's one hell of an award for them to win. So, what about this band made the Mercury Prize panel decide that they were the ones to watch? I have decided to do a review of their winning album ‘Visions of Life’ to see what really made them stand out against the rest.
My first thought that hovered throughout the entirety of listening to ‘Visions of A Life’ was simply: I get it. I get why the Mercury Prize panel decided that this album should be shortlisted and then the overall winner. It’s unlike any other album I’ve listened to through before and an overall theme that stands out is variation. It’s very difficult to pinpoint a genre that Wolf Alice fall into because almost every single song on the album can fall into different genres, and in some cases, there’s actually multiple genres appearing in a single song. But somehow, they pulled this off. Wolf Alice have somehow found a perfect balance between being experimental and kaleidoscopic but also having their own signature sound that runs across every track on the album. It really is a masterclass that a lot of artists can learn from because finding that perfect balance is outstandingly difficult.
There’s a wonderful mix of punk-rock in songs such as the hardcore angsty anthem of ‘Yuk Foo’ to the calm electronic vibes of 'Don’t Delete the Kisses' and acoustic almost-bluesy sounds of 'Formidable Cool'. However, it’s almost difficult to label these tracks in these categories because none of them stick to it 100% throughout the song. This album not only proves that Wolf Alice can portray themselves in a variety of genres, but that they’re also successful in all of them. I don’t find myself wishing they’d made more of the hardcore stuff or hoping that next time they focus more on the slower acoustic stuff; every style they are very good at and you just end up wanting more of, well, pretty much all of it.
Although it’s difficult to find one track on the album that really sums up Wolf Alice and what they’re about because of the intense variation among tracks; one stand out track for me is the finale of the album which also happens to be the title track ‘Visions of a Life’. This immense seven minute long piece of music does not only summarise the album but summarises Wolf Alice as a band, so I fully understand why it was made the title track. This was one of the songs that managed to fit all of Wolf Alice’s experimentation in to one single masterpiece. It combines the hauntingly slow vocals of lead vocalist Ellie Roswell with the hard rock instrumentals and added electronic layers of sound that make the track (and the album) incredibly three-dimensional. Releasing a song such as this is very brave: it’s outstandingly long, it varies in sound and vibe throughout but Wolf Alice really did somehow knock it out the park. It’s a very impressive feat indeed. I would say if you want a glimpse of the album then listen to this track, but at seven minutes long; it might be worth your while to just jump in the deep end and listen to the whole album
One thing I also noticed about the album in general, is that it’s also very interesting lyrically. Admittedly, having such powerful and exciting instrumentals means that if the songs weren’t lyrically great it wouldn’t have been a huge issue, but the songs really are lyrically great. They talk about life and love and emotions in a very modern way. In an album where the sounds both make it seem futuristic and retro, it is the lyrical content that brings it to the contemporary.
I would be intrigued to see how these songs are performed live because although variety is difficult enough to portray in a recording booth, it's even more difficult to portray live. I've yet to read a review of any of their concerts and I've not known anyone to go, so I wonder if the immensity of the album is portrayed well live in front of a crowd. It would be especially interesting to see how Roswell's vocals change from song to song because if she can perfectly perform a slower ballad song after the angry yelling of 'Yuk Foo', then that would show her to be an outstandingly talented vocalist
Perhaps the most exciting thing about Wolf Alice is that I can’t begin to imagine where their next album or future releases will go. It seems like although they vary a lot, their grounding seems to be in rock, so I have no doubt they’ll bring that forward with them but other than that, I have no idea. In my opinion, the Mercury Prize is designed for lesser-known artists to win, which promotes them and tells the world that they should not only be impressed with what the artist have already released but also be excited for where the artist will being going in the future, and for that reason, I believe Wolf Alice really were the perfect winners. Congrats to them.
LINKS TO BUY/STREAM VISIONS OF A LIFE
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