A review of alt-J's newest album, by Lauren Levy
"This is All Yours" shows alt-J’s soft side by showing their hard side. Don’t let Joe Newman’s warbly, comical voice mislead you—this album is heartfelt and serious, at times even suspenseful and jolting. Sensitive, slow melodies are shaken up with gripping, nervous climaxes. The album takes you on a bittersweet, reflective journey up and down the winding, mysterious hills of a land they call Nara. It is an emotional journey— pasts are confronted, memories are reinterpreted, and sacrifices are made.
The album intro alone is a musical journey. It begins with a whirling sound bath, pulsating with heterophonic, rhythmic, syllabic vocals reminiscent of Philip Glass’ “Music in Twelve Parts.” The vocal layers bleed and swirl until finally lo-fi lyrical vocals kick in, sounding like a long-lost cassette demo. The song conjures the feeling of a suspenseful, exotic circus. Layers of sound accumulate to thrilling heights. Would this song perfectly soundtrack a David Blaine escape trick? Yes. And that (probably) is a compliment.
“Arrival in Nara” is a tearjerker, a campfire nightcap, a goodbye prayer fit for a melancholy film scene where a wise and beloved elder quietly passes, or a widow mourns. It’s sung softly and sweetly— rawer than Alt-J’s more stylized musical concoctions. The follow-up track, “Nara,” is at once whimsical and eerie, playful and serious. Cirque du Soleil music composers, take note. At first Nara seems to be a magical, glittering realm, but beware of monsters lurking around the bend... we remain in Nara for ten more tracks. Or, arguably, nine: “Left-Hand Free” is the album’s black sheep (or Nara’s golden egg?), sandwiched smack in the middle of an otherwise cohesive narrative. This marks the first musical shift from ethereal, twinkly, free form soundscape to radio-polished, blues-rockin’ indie-soul. “Left-Hand Free” is a temporary free pass out of the Nara fantasyland, back to Planet Earth, where hits are manufactured. And on Planet Earth, the song happily fills the void left by The Black Keys’ latest departure from blues-rock into folky jingle-pop.
Now, back to the land of Nara. Snuggle up with alt-J’s soft side on the tracks “Pusher, “ “Garden of England,” “Choice Kingdom,” and “Warm Foothills.” If you like Antony and the Johnsons or Bon Iver, you will like “Pusher.” “Garden of England” is rose garden teatime music— a weaker strain than Mark Mothersbaugh is serving, though still pleasantly palatable. If you want to go on a coming-of-age, find-your-true-self-and-the-meaning-of-life pilgrimage, you will bring the song “Choice Kingdom” with you, if not in headphones then in spirit. “Warm Foothills” will make you want to fall in love, cozy up in a log cabin, and crunch around in piles of autumn leaves. Don’t feel bad if “Warm Foothills” is the amuse-bouche that leads to a nostalgic listen of your old Feist album.
A few musically exploratory tracks are “The Gospel of John Hurt,” “Every Other Freckle,” and “Hunger of the Pine.” If you wish Yeasayer could soundtrack James Bond, give “The Gospel of John Hurt” a try. If not, go right to the standout track, “Every Other Freckle.” It sounds like Sufjan Stevens having a bad trip, which, as it turns out, is perfect. Speaking of psychedelics, put on the orgy scene from Zoolander, press mute, and play “Hunger of the Pine” (http://alturl.com/iar9o). In this track, Nara becomes Wonderland, and you a walk a mile in Alice’s shoes.
There is a little something for everyone on this album. After a successful debut album, this second release from alt-J is just as confusing and pleasantly surprising as one would expect a second album from a new artist to be. With one hit already under their belt, they have loosened that belt a couple notches and taken full creative liberty. Besides “Left-Hand Free,” the only hits alt-J seems to care about are acid, not the Billboard charts. This is All Yours is an artistic, colorful flight of sound, with the inevitable compromise of Hit #2.
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