More about: Wallows

Back in 2019, Wallows asked the all-important question: ‘Are You Bored Yet?’. Flash forward three years, and they’re back with sophomore album Tell Me That It’s Over. One thing is for sure: any question of boredom is wiped from the slate. Tell Me That It’s Over is non-stop, undiluted fun.

With a bracing, steadying breath, ‘Hard to Believe’ bursts into life. It’s that initial hesitation that initially lingers across the album: as though Wallows have had this big realisation, they’re just nervous to unleash it. Over time, however, they settle into that and take ownership. Since 2019 album Nothing Happens, the band have embarked on quite the learning curve. Tell Me That It’s Over introduces a new Wallows: they’re more mindful, shrewder and prepared to show their true faces on this record.

It's an intrepid but innately sweet take—having gone inwards, they’ve emerged feeling glass half full. Tell Me That It’s Over is a sonic spring in your step. Having previously grappled with finding their feet and deciphering who their might be, they’ve let go of uncertainty. Instead, they’re looking to the future with starry eyes. There’s a dazed mysticism to tracks like ‘Permanent Price’, a track bound up in love and dosed with airy harmonies and in ode to a redemptive relationship. 

It definitely feels like Wallows most romantic album yet—romantic in that breathlessly hopeful, imagining your future in a five second rush of infatuation. It evokes the same feeling through different roads: ‘Missing Out’ is a lingering thought you can’t shake from your mind, whilst sonically, ‘Hurts Me’ and its heavy, joyous synth is the weak-at-the-knees giddiness of those weeks in the ether. Of course, Wallows are always earnest and real—heartbreak rears its head at times, and it isn’t always absolute ecstasy. But even when they’re singing of feeling foolish in love and facing the repercussions, there’s a reeling endearment that makes the album feel like falling headfirst. 

They’re bolder in their experimentalism than before, prioritising passion and excitement above people-pleasing. Everything feels delivered with a mischievous grin and it is in these moments that Wallows are in their prime. Tracks like ‘At the End of the Day’ might be polarising for those accustomed to the straightforward bedroom-pop Wallows cut their teeth on, but its lovestruck vocals and glistening, elated production feels to hit the core of what the band are trying to achieve here. It’s an album filled with absolute hope: they’ve searched the depths of their souls and come up feeling assured of euphoria to come. 

There’s a quietness to that realisation—there’s less truly boisterous moments. Instead, there’s a contemplation and intrinsic peace to the band. They’re trying to be the best and truest version of themselves, and they’re doing so through joy-inducing arrays into various fields of indie and pop. As ‘Guitar Romantic Search Adventure’—one of the greatest tracks in the band’s arsenal thus far—ushers the album out, that err of caution that pre-empted the album is long gone. They’re unequivocally sure of where they are, and Tell Me That It’s Over makes you hope that’s exactly where they’ll stay. 

Tell Me That It's Over Is Out Now.

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More about: Wallows