The countdown is on... Wolf Alice, ranked: DIY’s guide to the band’s top 10 songs

Coming in hot at number ten is ​‘The Last Man on Earth’. Arriving in 2021 as our first taste of Wolf Al’s third record, ​‘Blue Weekend’, this ELO-coded hit signalled a more mature and reflective era for the band. Easing in with a ballad style piano, it gradually builds up with the screaming confidence of a group who know their fanbase are willing to wait. It shows off the full extent of what Wolf Alice are capable of, this time unafraid to use all the bells and whistles that success has afforded them. 

This understated song is also featured on the band’s melancholy third album. It confesses vocalist Ellie Rowsell’s willingness to take back a past lover, even after a betrayal. The words are unflinchingly honest and vulnerable, and she seems unafraid to share those yearnings, despite what might be ​‘right’. This, combined with whirling strings and Rowsell’s distinctive, near-whispered words, means you’re swirled into the song at a hypnotising speed. 

If it’s the heavier end of Wolf Alice’s sound that scratches your itch, then this 2021 song has got to be right at the top of your list. Circling in like a drone before crashing down, ​‘Smile’ takes no shit, feisty and fearless in sound and saying. It’s both intense and angsty, and that guitar riff speaks for itself, making for a welcomingly fierce and bold breather in amongst the emotional heaviness of the rest of the record. 

While it’s a step away from the band’s ​‘hits’, ​‘No Hard Feelings’ surely has a place in the Top 10. This delicate little number shows Rowsell at her most vulnerable; you can almost see her curled up around her guitar on her bedroom floor. Quite obviously, it reeks of a break-up (as does the whole record), but there’s nevertheless a peaceful air to it. After all, ​“there’s only so much sulking that the heart can entertain”.

Yes, we know, it’s another track from ​‘Blue Weekend’ — but what can we say, we loved it! This beautiful cut slots perfectly into the sombre record; it’s tender and protective, emphasised by that melancholy, ​’80s-esque pop that aids the sad sweetness of the song. ​“To live in fear isn’t to live at all,” Ellie sings, capturing that relatable desperation that comes with trying to help someone you love get better, and the anxiety that creates. 

Now we’re throwing it back to 2017, because what’s not to love about this 2010s banger? Just one guitar strum and we’re in! It’s simple, classic and just what you want from an indie band’s debut album — here they are, full of energy, showing you what they’ve got. It stinks of youth, stale cigarettes and beer stained clothes, reminding us of our one true lost love, indie sleaze. RIP. 

2015 cut ​‘Silk’ feels incredibly accomplished for a debut album, and it’s a song that accordingly helped to define Wolf Alice’s sound. A sure fan-favourite, the track slinkily creeps in before offering Ellie’s haunting and hissing vocal melody as a mantra. It has a playful, childlike quality to it that feels made for fans to sing back to the band, marking it out as a song with real intention. 

An ode to friendship, this nostalgic track featured as the second song on Wolf Alice’s debut album, ​‘My Love is Cool’, and was the first many of us had ever heard from the band. A track dedicated to the relationship Rowsell had with her childhood bestie, it’s bursting with light and love, and impossible to listen to without feeling at least a little lifted. ​“I got plans,” Rowsell sings on the youth-fuelled number; clearly, she wasn’t messing about. 

It’s hard to know where to start with this yearning, bursting, euphoric track, which — fun fact — took the band years to finish writing. ​‘Don’t Delete the Kisses’ is charged full of self-conscious lust that hits like a punch in the stomach — vulnerable, yet bold. Swoon on those diary-entry style words that are both relatable and personal, capturing that certain innocence and naivety that new love requires. The song steps so close to the edge of being an over-indulgent serenade, and yet is so self-aware that instead it’s not only genuine, but nigh-on genius. 

There’s no doubt about it, ​‘Giant Peach’ had to be number one. This fierce track has so much to offer, and is the absolute epitome of everything Wolf Alice can do. Kicking off with a guitar that sounds like the ignition of a motorbike, it signals the beginning of something — in this case, a band stepping up a gear. A tension builder in the truest sense, this song is like a call to action; it’s a chance for you to shake off the day, month or year, and let loose as it drops into a pure chaos that feels like coming up for air after being held underwater. What a release. 10/10. 

Tags: Features, Wolf Alice