14-07-2025
Wolf Alice Unveil New Single 'The Sofa'
Beloved British band Wolf Alice share new single, 'The Sofa' - another dimension to their highly anticipated fourth studio album The Clearing confirmed for release on August 22nd via Mushroom Music. Following a triumphant return to the stage with headlining festival performances at Primavera and a history-defining Glastonbury set on home soil, this new era announces Wolf Alice as a band who are in a league entirely of their own.
'The Sofa' is the album's psychological portrait which is a microcosm of the wider themes it reckons with: falling in love with your life for exactly what it is and finally letting go of unrealised dreams without shame, guilt or disappointment as you grow older. Unspooling like a daydream on an idle afternoon, 'The Sofa' is a piano ballad fortified by the best songwriting of Ellie Rowsell's career - radical in its unflinching honesty. 'Didn't make it out to California / Where I thought I might clean the slate / Feels a little like I'm stuck in Seven Sisters / North London, oh England / And maybe that's ok,' Rowsell sings. In abandoning the self-consciousness which weighs down your twenties, Wolf Alice reach a point of hard-won serenity.
Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
'It's about not trying so hard to figure everything out, reflecting on getting older and trying not to agonise over things that have or haven't happened in your life. It's also about trying to get to grips with the polarising aspects of one's life when you're in a band. You've just played a huge tour - and you come home, and you have your dinner on the sofa. For me, it's summed up in how I treat TV. I used to never watch the same thing twice because I thought I've got so much to discover! And now I'm like, It's okay if I just want to rewatch Peep Show for the thirteenth time.' – Ellie Rowsell
Shot on the streets of the band's native North London in homage to the lyrics, the video for 'The Sofa' captures the day-dreamy spirit of the song in boldly-coloured slow motion. Ellie is transported on a surreal fantasy through the euphoric messiness of British summertime street life while never leaving the comfort of her sofa. Inspired by classic street photography, these vignettes capture the blissed-out interactions of people from all walks of life, celebrating the shared joy we feel with strangers on a sunny day. The video was directed by Fiona Jane Burgess (Christina Aguilera, girlinred, Gucci) and features numerous easter eggs for the band's upcoming album.
The single release follows Wolf Alice's victorious return to Glastonbury Festival this past month, performing a razor-sharp set of hits to a sunset crowd on the Other Stage on Sunday afternoon. Combining fan favourites such as 'Bros' and 'Don't Delete The Kisses' with jubilant new singles 'Bloom Baby Bloom' and 'The Sofa' - the slot felt like a victory lap for a band truly at the peak of their powers.
Written in Seven Sisters and recorded in LA with Grammy-winning, master producer Greg Kurstin last year, The Clearing reveals where Wolf Alice stand sonically in 2025, delivering a supremely confident collection of songs bursting with ambition, ideas and emotion; The Clearing is a truly timeless record.
