Every now and again we hear a new song, close our eyes as tight as our jaw, and pretend we’re loose and free out in some dumb field listening to live rock and roll with 20,000 of our closest friends, lovers, and formerly friendly lovers. We did it with that lovely Coral Palms jam from a few weeks back, and we’re doing it now with “Smile”, the mighty new Wolf Alice guitar-rock fuzz banger that premiered this afternoon on this blessed April 20.
But as we mentally transport ourselves from never-ending emotional and physical lockdown to a better place out in front of a stage, we’re reminded by the English rock band that this feeling from “Smile” is by design.
“This is one of the songs we wrote thinking that we would play it live,” says Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell. “I miss that feeling of singing on stage. It’s like screaming into a pillow or something — you can get away with being more nasty. There’s a whole other part of me missing.”
True to form, this seductive bolt of a tune comes with a Jordan Hemingway-directed music video that puts Wolf Alice back on a pub stage, delivering the type of raucousness in 2021 we can only see play out in fantasies. Fire it up below, and sit tight — the new Wolf Alice album Blue Weekend arrives June 11, and soon, oh so very soon, we’ll all be out in the clubs, pubs, and magical fields once again.
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