Alt-J- This Is All Yours: Album Review
Alt-J are surfing back into action after their debut album ‘An Awesome Wave’ with the epiphanic sounds of ‘This Is All Yours’.
Within our technological generation, writing music has become more than just the ability to string together a few chords on an old Fender and syllabically vocalise in coherence with the beat of a drum. Our world, as has our music, is diversifying with the times— allowing musicians to piece together a mixture of electronically harmonic measures as well as the natural sounds of an acoustic setup. Alt-J (∆) have undeniably mastered the balance between both the natural and digital world, bringing to you their stripped back album ‘This Is All Yours’.
The album brings together both the harmonic beauty of true musicianship and the paradisal ambience of nature. A key theme echoed through several track listings is Nara- a Japanese city captivated by the idyllic essence of the Buddhist faith and the natural world; boasting the beautiful architectures of a historic society facing political breakthrough, as well as being home to some breathtaking landscapes.
The album begins with the track Intro, which acts as the handle of the narrative’s artistry, where man and nature combine to paint the abstract canvas of life. The mixture of melismatic “la’s” and chromatic scalings create a foreground to the ambient soundtrack of pizzicato strings, whereas the cry of woodwinds as well as digital samples encapsulate the contrast between an emotional sanctuary as well as an eeriness— a bipolar theme within This is All Yours. The first three tracks ‘Intro’, ‘Arrival in Nara’, and ‘Nara’ rather picturesquely explore the newfangled side to Alt-J’s musical capabilities.
Compared to the indie/folk-rock stylings of Mercury Prize winning album
An Awesome Wave, these tracks sell a very different side of the band, for it isn’t until thirty seconds into ‘Nara’ that you start to regain the established feel of Alt-J musicianship. This Is All Yours truly lives up to its name by gifting your ears with a diverse array of technical skills before leading into a throwback to their debut style. The breezily catchy song ‘Every Other Freckle’ reminds you of previous works such as ‘Fitzpleasure’ with the heavy use of guitars riffs and distortion, whilst adding a retro twist created by the exuberant bluesy-rock rhythm of the rebellious Rolling Stones era and the husky distorted vocals mimicked by Newman’s contemporary voice.
Alt-J have indefinitely become more rambunctious within their style when it comes to creating crowd-pleasing melodies, as the promotional tracks of ‘Left Hand Free’, ‘Every Other Freckle’ and Hunger Of The Pine’ really encapsulate their new musical style, whilst holding on to their band heritage. Further preservation of their previous work came in the form of ‘Bloodflood Part II’, where a transposed reconstruction of their song “Bloodflood” has been made, seamlessly referring back to their 2012 debut of ‘An Awesome Wave’.
Not only does the album hold a vibrant and positive feel, it also houses a distorted, dark side, contrasting from the peaceful, ‘Garden of England’ style kingdom of several tracks. The dark lament of “Hunger of the Pine” boasts a morbid and rather erratic disruption to what is a generally peaceful and vibrantly textured album. Unger-Hamilton’s option of sampling Miley Cyrus’ disembodied voice with the lyric “I’m a female rebel” juxtaposes with the orderly introduction of ‘This Is All Yours’, creating a paradoxical feeling of rebellion and new order.
It is clear that Alt-J had an ambition to both to forestall and challenge their listeners with their new content. The mixture of Baroque-style melodies encompassing poignant musical icons like George Freideric Handel in ‘Garden of Eden- Interlude’ and the placid, stripped back acousic number ‘Pusher’ rather unconventionally add a sense of revolution. When speaking about the new approach within ‘This Is All Yours’, Newman told NPR: “We try to tantalize listeners, giving them the right amount of something, just before they start craving it. You sort of want to drive people crazy, but not overuse the idea.”
Fans were left in shock earlier this year from the shockingly spontaneous departure of fourth bandmember Gwil Sainsbury. In an interview with Australian publication ‘The Music’, Unger-Hamilton stated that it was due to the band lifestyle that led to Sainsbury’s resignation:
“[It was] just the whole lifestyle, really: it was the touring aspect, it was the music industry aspect, he didn’t enjoy doing interviews at all, he didn’t enjoy having to go out for dinner with people from the record label, he didn’t enjoy going on tour, he didn’t enjoy that kind of thing, having to shake hands with radio programmers after gigs and things,”.
Despite Sainsbury’s decision to hang up his bass guitar, that didn’t stop the remaining trio from succeeding in their ambition of releasing new material by the end of this year. The band have continued to develop and successfully release their new album, as well as being in the middle of completing their album tour.
From the tranquility of heart-warming tracks such as ‘Warm Foothills’ to the edgy, nerve rattling tune of ‘Hunger Of The Pine’, it is certain to say that Alt-J have indeed struck back with another smash-hit album. Although a sad and personal decision, the departure of best friend Gwil Sainsbury from the band hasn’t impeded on the boys from Leeds’ ability to produce an incredibly fulfilling album which is sure to leave you speechless with its unexpectedly expected goodness. ‘This Is All Yours’ is the perfect album to sit back to, relax and close your eyes— for the triangle-loving boys have created a musical gateway to the kingdom of self-righteousness and personal discoveries.
