Driven by hands claps and a rolling piano, the new single ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ from north London band Wolf Alice is a driving, vibrant track with singer Ellie Rowsell’s vocals soaring across the surface, falsetto and urgent at times, raw and raucous at other times, with an extraordinary range. It’s a thrilling and dynamic blast that has a theatrical blush, dramatic and bold. Rowsell says of the track:
I wanted a rock song, to focus on the performance element of a rock song and sing like Axl Rose, but to be singing a song about being a woman. I’ve used the guitar as a shield in the past, playing it has perhaps been some way to reject the ‘girl singer in band’ trope, but I wanted to focus on my voice as a rock instrument so it’s been freeing to put the guitar down and reach a point where I don’t feel like I need to prove that I’m a musician.
There is a brutality and power in the lyrics:
Did I have to make you sit on your hands
Fucking baby, baby man
Do you want me to show you who I am
See this fire in my eyes boy, that’s your flash in the pan
The accompanying video matches the raw intensity of the track as well as its theatricality and bold vision It is a collaboration with noted alt-pop director Colin Solal Cardo, famous for collaborations with Charli XCX, Robyn, Christine & The Queens and Phoenix. The video deconstructs a classic rock performance by drawing on Bob Fosse and All That Jazz, featuring a brilliant performance from Ellie in the middle of a host of dancers choreographed by Emmy Award-winning choreographer Ryan Heffington (Euphoria, Sia, Kenzo + Margaret Qualley).
‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ is out now and can be streamed and downloaded here.
Tt comes with the announcement of Wolf Alice’s fourth studio album ‘The Clearing’, confirmed for release on 29 August via Mushroom Music. You can preorder the new album here.
Feature Photograph: Rachel Fleminger Hudson
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