The wait for Wolf Alice’s fourth album just got more thrilling with the release of ‘White Horses’, a hypnotic new track that sees drummer Joel Amey stepping into the spotlight with lead vocals before melting into a mesmerizing duet with Ellie Rowsell. Premiered moments ago as Apple Music’s New Music Daily feature, the song offers the first glimpse of the band’s boldest sonic evolution yet – a swirling blend of krautrock rhythms, ’70s rock grandeur, and trippy dance textures that feels both expansive and intimately personal.
The track’s origins trace back to a rare family car journey, with Amey crafting the initial lyrics in his notes app before resurrecting the demo during final album sessions. “I wanted to underpin it with a driving krautrock beat,” he explains, drawing inspiration from The Clearing’s emerging sonic palette of big acoustics and lush harmonies. But the heart of ‘White Horses’ lies in Amey’s poignant exploration of identity – his mother and aunt’s adoption left lingering questions about heritage that he once dismissed (“I’d chosen my family and they were the people around me”) before a late-20s curiosity took hold. The resulting track captures that emotional duality – the euphoric declaration “Know who I am that’s important to me” soaring over psychedelic guitars, embodying both the fear and freedom of self-discovery.
‘White Horses’ follows the anthemic ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ and the sun-drenched ‘The Sofa’, released after their triumphant Glastonbury set that saw crowds weeping through a career-spanning victory lap. Recorded in LA with Grammy-winner Greg Kurstin, The Clearing (out August 22) finds the North London quartet at their creative peak – a timeless yet forward-thinking collection that channels Fleetwood Mac’s grandeur through their signature bruised euphoria. From 2013’s generational anthem ‘Bros’ to 2022’s Brit Award-winning Blue Weekend, Wolf Alice have soundtracked coming-of-age chaos; now, The Clearing emerges as their wisest, most ambitious work yet – the sound of a band stepping into their thirties with hard-won clarity and unstoppable verve.
LISTEN TO ‘WHITE HORSES’ | PRE-ORDER THE CLEARING
The Clearing Tracklist:
- Thorns
- Bloom Baby Bloom
- Just Two Girls
- Leaning Against The Wall
- Passenger Seat
- Play It Out
- Bread Butter Tea Sugar
- Safe in the World
- Midnight Song
- White Horses
- The Sofa
Rome is a freelance writer and photographer. He brings a fresh perspective to the indie music scene and highlights emerging artists and underground movements. His writing style is drawn from personal experiences and a deep love for the art form.