Earlier this month, North London alternative rock quartet Wolf Alice - vocalist/guitarist Ellie Rowsell, guitarist/vocalist Joff Odie, bassist Theo Ellis and drummer/vocalist Joel Amey - released "Sadboy" as their fifth single from their critically acclaimed sophomore album Visions of Life (2017). The midtempo track wastes no time in creating that expansive shoegaze tapestry, which then serves as a disarming backdrop for Rowsell's pointedly psychoanalytic verses: 'Who hurt you, sadboy?/ There's a dark cloud above your head/ Who hurt you, sadboy?/ You act like you're already dead/ But you think too much/ Yeah you think too much.'
Her melodic musings breeze along, making the act of diagnosing youthful modern malaises seem impossibly breezy. When the song arrives at the outro, however, you inevitably register that it was built around something primal and archaic: "a bizarre kind of electronic Brian Jonestown Massacre demo that Ellie had created with de-tuned acoustic guitars and multiple character vocals". There are deep agonies behind that stylized emo posturing, which bubble to the surface in the midst of jagged guitars and grungy vocal effects: 'I was waiting/ Waiting for anything to happen/ Waiting for love?/ I was just waiting for this not to hurt.'
The accompanying music video presents this revelation of anguished desire by veering into surrealism. Roswell is seen departing her home for a party, which then leads to bloody vomit and a nervous breakdown in an alternate space.
