There is something strikingly honest about Wolf Alice on The Clearing, a clarity of purpose that says this is us, distilled. From the opening chord, there is no excess, just four musicians in their thirties, rooted in North London, reclaiming the simple power of a band.

The Clearing is an album of restraint and focus. It feels like a band that spent years proving its range, from riotous scuzz to shimmering alt rock, now deciding to let the melody take the lead. The grooves are expansive and full of light, recalling moments of seventies classic rock, yet refreshed and alive in the present. It is the sound of a band still searching for joy but with a new kind of wisdom.

Ellie Rowsell’s voice commands everything here, unafraid to soar and unafraid to fall into a whisper. The lead single “Bloom Baby Bloom” sets the tone with radiant energy, a rock song from a woman’s perspective that feels both fierce and knowing. Rolling Stone UK praised it as “the most confident, self assured era of the band,” noting that Wolf Alice “have found the sweet spot in paring back their ideas and pushing the best to the forefront.” NME echoed that sentiment, calling The Clearing “a luminous leap forward, playful without ever compromising depth.”

Meanwhile, “The Sofa” offers one of the album’s quietest and most affecting moments. It is a reflection on life after the road, when silence feels as necessary as applause. Clash described the track as “a beautiful piano filled ballad that captures the intimacy of stillness,” pointing to Rowsell’s harmonies as a highlight. The little details are what linger. A chorus that opens like an embrace, lyrics that admit uncertainty without shame, a piano refrain that hovers long after the song has ended. Themes of change and resilience course through the record. Wolf Alice sound older, but still restless, still chasing moments of wonder. Clarity here does not resolve everything, but it gives them room to breathe.

Wolf Alice have come home, not to a place but to themselves. They remain the North London four piece with velvet cornered intensity, yet now they are freer, more assured, and more expansive than ever. The Clearing feels like an exhale. In that pause, the songs shine.