Generational British band Wolf Alice share new single, ‘The Sofa’ – another dimension to their highly anticipated fourth studio album The Clearing confirmed for release on August 22nd. Following a triumphant return to the stage with headlining festival performances at Primavera – where they unveiled ‘The Sofa’ for one of the first times, had thousands singing along – and a history-defining Glastonbury set on home soil, this new era announces Wolf Alice as a band who are in a league entirely of their own.
‘The Sofa’ is the album’s psychological portrait which is a microcosm of the wider themes it reckons with: falling in love with your life for exactly what it is and finally letting go of unrealised dreams without shame, guilt or disappointment as you grow older. Unspooling like a daydream on an idle afternoon, ‘The Sofa’ is a piano ballad fortified by the best songwriting of Ellie Rowsell’s career – radical in its unflinching honesty. “Didn’t make it out to California / Where I thought I might clean the slate / Feels a little like I’m stuck in Seven Sisters / North London, oh England / And maybe that’s ok,” Rowsell sings. In abandoning the self-consciousness which weighs down your twenties, Wolf Alice reach a point of hard-won serenity.
Rowsell shares: “It’s about not trying so hard to figure everything out, reflecting on getting older and trying not to agonise over things that have or haven’t happened in your life. It’s also about trying to get to grips with the polarising aspects of one’s life when you’re in a band. You’ve just played a huge tour – and you come home, and you have your dinner on the sofa. For me, it’s summed up in how I treat TV. I used to never watch the same thing twice because I thought I’ve got so much to discover! And now I’m like, It’s okay if I just want to rewatch Peep Show for the thirteenth time.”
Shot on the streets of the band’s native North London in homage to the lyrics, the video for The Sofa captures the day-dreamy spirit of the song in boldly-coloured slow motion. Ellie is transported on a surreal fantasy through the euphoric messiness of British summertime street life while never leaving the comfort of her sofa. Inspired by classic street photography, these vignettes capture the blissed out interactions of people from all walks of life, celebrating the shared joy we feel with strangers on a sunny day. The video was directed by Fiona Jane Burgess (Christina Aguilera, girlinred, Gucci) and features numerous easter eggs for the band’s up-coming album. Watch HERE.
