Wolf Alice – My Love Is Cool

Bin those preconceptions now. Turns out Ellie Rowsell's claim (when she spoke to The Skinny back in March) that those pitching her band as 90s alt-rock revisionists might have cause to rethink once they heard their album, was more than mere showboating. Five years after Rowsell formed Wolf Alice with bassist Joff Oddie, they deliver an invigorating, genre-defying debut whose pop savvy sets it comfortably apart from the schmindie workaday.

From the wrong-footing opening of Turn To Dust's gossamer folk to the acoustic Swallowtail (where drummer Joel Amey takes lead vocals), My Love Is Cool delights in tearing up the script. Fluffy is still mighty, as is epic recent single Giant Peach. But it’s the newer detours (the parade ground backbeat of Silk, the skewed balladry of Soapy Water) that impress and, it seems, define this breathless endeavour. My Love Is Cool is the sound of indie pop having the paddles applied.