‘The Last Man On Earth’ (TLMOE) achieves the impressive feat of sounding complete and as a welcome change from the London group, before appearing to restart and then almost immediately stop. As a three-minute track, ‘TLMOE’ would be a standout single for Wolf Alice, trading their brash, high energy rock for something closer to The National. With her tender and pensive lyrics, Ellie Rowsell challenges the idea of constantly seeking deeper meanings from quotes or imagery, reminding the world that everything isn’t always that deep. Sometimes the curtains are blue just because they’re blue. A final immense crescendo arises, in a beautiful display of Wolf Alice’s tendencies for dream-pop reverb, creating a thunderous final roar, impressive and near unforgettable.
But then, part 2 happens with wobbly synth induced riffs that sound exciting and as though we’re only halfway in, only to end a minute later. It feels like a case of blue balls and where less would be much more. The first 3 minutes of TLMOE are glorious and Wolf Alice at their best. Past 3:08, it just feels excessive to me.
Wolf Alice’s third LP “Blue Weekend” is set for release on June 11th.
velvetindependent.com 