Wolf Alice: Blue Weekend (UK import) [DIRTY HIT]

Why you'll love it

This UK import comes in a gatefold sleeve with a lyric insert and download card. Blue Weekend drew acclaim across the board, with many critics calling it the band's best work, and it was shortlisted for the 2021 Mercury Prize.

This edition

• UK import
• Gatefold jacket
• Lyric insert
• Download card included

About the album

Four years is a long time between albums, and Wolf Alice used every month of it. Blue Weekend is the North London band's most varied and confident record, a weekend's worth of moods from whispered heartbreak to full-throttle rock.

Markus Dravs produced it, and the four members (Ellie Rowsell, Joff Oddie, Theo Ellis and Joel Amey) play a small orchestra's worth of instruments between them, from Mellotron to stylophone. "The Last Man on Earth" builds from a hush to something huge, "Smile" is all swagger and fuzz, "Delicious Things" drifts in on a dreamy haze, "Play the Greatest Hits" is a punk sprint, and "No Hard Feelings" and "How Can I Make It OK?" show off Rowsell's voice at its most open. "The Beach" and "The Beach II" bookend the whole thing.

The band even moved the album's arrival forward a week, from June 11 to June 4, 2021. The singles premiered on BBC Radio 1 and Apple Music, with Rowsell and Ellis co-hosting Annie Mac's show for the first. Not every band gets the keys to the studio on launch night; Wolf Alice did, and they didn't break anything.

Also at Kops: more Wolf Alice on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Dirty Hit (cat# DH01058), the 2021 album.