| The Clearing | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 22 August 2025 | |||
| Studio | No Expectations (Hollywood) [1] | |||
| Length | 40:48 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | Greg Kurstin | |||
| Wolf Alice chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Clearing | ||||
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The Clearing is the fourth studio album by English rock band Wolf Alice, released on 22 August 2025 through RCA and Columbia Records. The album follows the band's 2021 album Blue Weekend .
Wolf Alice wrote songs for the album in Seven Sisters, London, while recording took place in Los Angeles with American producer Greg Kurstin. [3] The album marks their departure from Dirty Hit, the label under which they released their first three albums, and is set to be released through RCA and Columbia. [4] The band detailed plans for their new album on 15 May 2025. [5] In a statement, The Clearing was described as "a classic pop/rock album", drawing influence from the 1970s while remaining "rooted firmly in the present.". The announcement compared the project to "something close to if Fleetwood Mac wrote an album today in North London". [6] It was further characterised as "both playful and serious, ironic and straight-talking", representing a deliberate step forward for the band that conveys "the freeing feeling of finding a moment of peace and clarity". [7]
To support the album, Wolf Alice is scheduled to tour North America and Europe in September and October 2025. [8]
"Bloom Baby Bloom" was released as the lead single on 15 May 2025, accompanied by a music video. The song was noted for its experimental approach, blending atmospheric soundscapes with the band's signature indie rock style. Lead singer Ellie Rowsell described it as a "rock song" inspired by Axl Rose but from a woman's perspective. She said she aimed to use her vocals as a "rock instrument" and felt she had reached a point where she no longer needed to prove herself as a musician. [9] The album's second single, closing track "The Sofa", was released on 11 July 2025, alongside a music video. The third single, "White Horses", featuring co-lead vocals by drummer Joel Amey, was released on 8 August 2025, accompanied by a lyric video. The music video for the fourth single, "Just Two Girls", was released on 9 September 2025 and starred Lucy Boynton alongside Rowsell. [10]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 7.9/10 [11] |
| Metacritic | 80/100 [12] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| DIY |  [13] |
| Financial Times |  [14] |
| NME | [15] |
| Paste | 7.0/10 [16] |
| Rolling Stone | [17] |
| Slant Magazine |  [18] |
| Under the Radar | 9/10 [19] |
The Clearing received positive reviews from music critics. The album earned a weighted average score of 80 out of 100 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews", based on 15 reported reviews. [12]
In a five-star review for NME , Rhian Daly praised The Clearing for its sonic separation from Blue Weekend, featuring "more layered, nuanced, slower-tempo songs" than the band's 2021 release. For Daly, "the songwriting within them is so strong, they still make just as big an impression" as the "harder, faster side of Wolf Alice's oeuvre". Daly's review concluded by summarising The Clearing as "the kind of album that could only be written after the dust has settled on your twenties and the post-30 clarity sets in" and Wolf Alice themselves as "the kind of band that keep on getting better with every record, and here, they raise the bar on themselves once again". [15] In a similarly glowing review, Sarah Jamieson of DIY labelled the record Wolf Alice's "boldest, most striking record yet". [13]
Writing for Rolling Stone , Jon Dolan highlighted Wolf Alice's "sweep and depth" on The Clearing, describing the album as "steeped in classic seventies and eighties influences yet never feeling like they’re just firing up a playlist of old bangers". Comparing the record to Carole King's Tapestry (1971) and Stevie Nicks's Bella Donna (1981), Dolan cast The Clearing as "a great album about the scary experience of honestly figuring what kind of person you are — and what the world owes you for the hard work you already do". [17] Andy Von Pip, reviewing the album for Under the Radar , named it a "a classic that shows a band confident in their evolution, unafraid to shed what no longer fits, and stepping forward with renewed purpose". [19]
In a more critical review, Miranda Wollen of Paste opined that "Wolf Alice isn’t sure where they're heading, but they’re not stopping any time soon" on The Clearing. She derogated the album's second half as a "half-willed descent into the depths of commercialized pop-rock", but concluded that "even at its nadir, The Clearing is far from grating", praising the band's "vivid, emotive imagery" across the tracklist. [16] Lewie Parkinson-Jones, writing for Slant Magazine , similarly stated that after the first few tracks, "The Clearing settles into a procession of mostly mellow songs built around acoustic guitars that nudge the album toward monotony". [18] Patrick Clarke of The Quietus praised Bloom Baby Bloom, but went on to say, "It’s therefore painful to report that the same cannot be said for the rest of the Mercury winners’ disappointing fourth album" . [20]
On 10 September 2025, The Clearing was announced as one of 12 nominees for the 2025 Mercury Prize. [21]
The Clearing debuted atop the UK Albums Chart on 29 August 2025, earning Wolf Alice their second consecutive number-one album and fourth consecutive top-three album. It simultaneously arrived at the summit of the Official Vinyl Albums Chart. [22]
All tracks are written by Ellie Rowsell, Joel Amey, Jonathan Oddie, and Theo Ellis; "Thorns", "Just Two Girls", and "The Sofa" written with Greg Kurstin.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Thorns" | 3:14 |
| 2. | "Bloom Baby Bloom" | 3:47 |
| 3. | "Just Two Girls" | 3:49 |
| 4. | "Leaning Against the Wall" | 4:11 |
| 5. | "Passenger Seat" | 2:52 |
| 6. | "Play It Out" | 4:11 |
| 7. | "Bread Butter Tea Sugar" | 3:28 |
| 8. | "Safe in the World" | 3:31 |
| 9. | "Midnight Song" | 2:50 |
| 10. | "White Horses" | 4:29 |
| 11. | "The Sofa" | 4:26 |
| Total length: | 40:48 | |
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. [1]
| Chart (2025) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA) [23] | 14 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [24] | 10 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [25] | 30 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [26] | 114 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [27] | 16 |
| French Albums (SNEP) [28] | 109 |
| French Rock & Metal Albums (SNEP) [29] | 7 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [30] | 10 |
| Hungarian Physical Albums (MAHASZ) [31] | 40 |
| Irish Albums (OCC) [32] | 8 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI) [33] | 23 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [34] | 31 |
| Portuguese Albums (AFP) [35] | 95 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC) [36] | 1 |
| Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [37] | 48 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [38] | 21 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [39] | 17 |
| UK Albums (OCC) [40] | 1 |
| US Top Album Sales (Billboard) [41] | 14 |
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