My Love Is Cool album cover.

I listen to a lot of music – I practically live with my headphones on, to find joy in as many moments as I can, which may make some older generations reel, but that’s alright. I can tune them out. From the pandemic onwards, I’ve taken a lot of pride in being able to connect with people through music, leading me to listen to hundreds of albums, thousands of songs, and almost as many artists. Wolf Alice is one of my favorites.

I had a lot of trouble picking which album of theirs to review, because I figured that I’d definitely want to write about them first. Their three – My Love Is Cool, Visions Of A Life, and Blue Weekend – are all equally strong, but I’ve decided to go with their debut because it truly is something magical. Female-fronted rock bands aren’t easy to come by nowadays (or arguably ever), but Wolf Alice are exceptional beyond that exception, in that they just do everything right. Their production is top-notch: Ellie Rowsell’s vocals are superb, then taken to the next level with seriously unmatched distortion. The Grammy-nominated “Moaning Lisa Smile” is a great example of this, with booming echoey vocals that transport you away from the concerns of life.

Or, conversely, the most tender moments on the album are so beautifully raw that it stops me every time. “Bros” in particular makes me freeze and relive all the coming-of-age movies I’ve ever watched (partially because it literally is in the soundtrack of one). It’s so pure and expressive; it’s everything a song should be, and artfully done at that. The instrumentation, the slightly muted guitar to bring out Ellie’s laments, and the shifts, growing louder and more muddled, dreamier, as the nostalgic episode comes to a close, it all combines into one of my favorite emotional trips, remembering all the true friends with who I “stick it out together, like we always do.”

Equally moving is the slow-building, sonically graceful yet lyrically human “Silk”. This song is a transcendent experience with headphones, and I don’t say that lightly. It begins faint and ethereal, with what sounds like a quiet wind poking through, until a rumbling electronic melody slowly emerges. Ellie begins, switching between her inner thoughts and those of judgmental onlookers. The drums pick up as she starts the chorus, strong but not grand yet. She returns to her anxious state, telling herself to calm down while others simply watch. Again, the chorus starts up, but this time it’s complete with drums crashing like waves, otherworldly sirens, and stellar, near-spiritual vocals, altogether forming an incomparable composition. I can feel my skin shiver and my breathing deepen each time I listen.

Yet, for each serene moment on this album, there’s an equally great, heavier segment. Hard rock or otherwise “gnarly” guitar-based music has traditionally been a boys’ space and this album turns me into a cheerleader for all the pioneers in music promoting gender equality and making the statement that, yes, anyone can make messy, grungy, noisy rock. The album’s laden with guitar hooks but the more abrasive parts really shine in songs like “Fluffy”. It’s one song I would love to see performed live here at BASIS because it’s fun, it’s catchy, it’s loud, and it’s irreverent. It has a full guitar sound with a rich bassline and wonderful percussion. The vocals start deep then become screeching by the chorus, tying together to create a song indulging in its freedom to enjoy itself and make some noise.

Similarly “nasty” are “Giant Peach” and the ending of “Swallowtail”. Throughout My Love Is Cool, Wolf Alice make great use of wailing, squealing guitars, and “Giant Peach” is a wonderful example of that, starting out with such until jumping into a rolling guitar riff, intertwined with faint background vocals. It continues on for over a minute and a half before the vocals kick in, heavy and unreserved. The guitar squeals and licks continue until the song drops to a whisper to build and build for a fittingly dramatic finish.

“Swallowtail”, on the other hand, sung by drummer Joel Amey, is far gentler and more sentimental. The only guitar to be found is the constant strumming of an acoustic one, while the song slowly picks up with growingly present drums and increasingly piercing keyboard. After three verses with Joel’s touching falsetto, the song abruptly fades off, then cuts back in with a completely unexpected thrashing coda. “Swallowtail” flies into a noise-rock-meets-shoegaze wall of sound, with Ellie’s vocals off in the distance and a wah-wah sound carefully permeating the whole affair. It’s a moment unlike any other on the album, but one that only adds to the variety of musical greatness it features.

The great people of Wolf Alice are some of the masterminds behind my falling in love with music. Every time I listen to My Love Is Cool, I think it’s a miracle I haven’t ranted and raved about it any more than I already have, because it really is that spectacular. I couldn’t possibly rank the songs on it, given how consistent the entire album is. Strong from start to finish, My Love Is Cool is a debut from Wolf Alice that could floor a chandelier in its musical mastery and sheer expressiveness. It’s a wonder that they’ve made two other albums that are just as good. I certainly can’t complain that they’ve entered my life: forever, Wolf Alice and this album will be among my absolute favorites, and I strongly encourage people to listen.

My love bends rules

My love is cool