alt-j Relaxer :: my thoughts
These are my thoughts on the album and each song. Nothing super deep here, just my initial thoughts having just listened to the album.
First of all, the name Relaxer is fitting. The soundscapes they slowly build up throughout several of the tracks carry you away and the live orchestra is very cinematic. The featured female vocals are beautiful and the overall mood of the album is indeed relaxing.
3WW has gotta be one of their best alt-J songs of all time. The lyrics and the music both are incredible.
In Cold Blood is so true to alt-J that you could confidently use it to introduce someone to the band.
House of the Rising Sun is an alt-J cover of The Animals’ song from the 1960s. Like their cover of Lovely Day, they slow the tempo, write more instrumentation, and complete it with lovely vocals.
Hit Me Like That Snare... Wow! I never thought they could go any farther than they did with Fitzpleasure, but boy was I mistaken! The song left me speechless tbh. Also, I’m wondering if the use of Japanese is a tribute to Osamu Sato? He’s the Japanese man behind the video game LSD: Dream Emulator, from which alt-J got it’s album art.
Really like Deadcrush. Got that beat like The Gospel of John Hurt.
Adeline, you are a beautiful soul-stirring song. I played this for my girlfriend in the car the other day and she had to ask me to change it because it was making her feel depressed. I really like this song though because it makes me feel.
Last Year features that newer sound of Joe’s voice, delicate female vocals and is that an oboe or a muted french horn or a...? Whatever it is, it’s charming.
I’m curious to how they will perform Pleader live... Very unique track. Love the pizzicato! This song grows to be very grand is an excellent finish to the album.
I feel like you could put all of the songs into two categories. The first would be alt-J fine tuning and expanding their familiar sound. The tracks in this category would be 3WW, In Cold Blood, and Adeline. It would make sense for these to be released before the album because they are a more familiar sound, thus better preparing people for the new album. The second category would be alt-J creating new sounds with their same techniques of writing. The tracks in the second category would be Hit Me Like That Snare, Deadcrush, Last Year, and Pleader. These tracks are distinctly alt-J but they have a noticeably different sound from the previous 2 albums. And yeah, I put House of the Rising Sun in it’s own category since it is an alt-J cover.
Those who have not listened yet, prepare for alt-J to cover some new ground, but expect nothing but the best from our friends across the pound.
romaincrisis
snowghoul
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