British alt-rockers ALT-J (∆) will be ALT-14(♫)ing in Australian shores this month
After sold-out shows in Melbourne and Sydney in a brief visit over October last year, Mercury-Prize-winning British alt-rockers alt-J (∆) are set to return to our shores this month for a full-blown Australian tour.
Alt J - "This is All Yours" album cover
This is All Yours, released in September 2014, could be described as a landscape of atonal obscurity, knit together with lead singer, Joe Newman’s, distinctive falsetto. With careful acoustics, looped vocals, and a cheeky sampling from a certain pop songstress, there is no shortage of surprises. Seemingly jumping from genre to genre, listening to the whole album from start to finish was at times jarring. The jump from the country blues feel of “Left Hand Free” to the romantic flute in “Garden of England– Interlude” left me questioning the cohesiveness of the album. There was even a dip into bass-y electronic sound in “Bloodflood Part II”. After all, the album’s concept is to take listeners on a journey to Nara, Japan, as suggested by “Arrival in Nara”, “Nara”, and “Leaving Nara”, all of which have clear oriental influences.
However, this is not supposed to be a conventional pop album, and considering Gen Y’s connectedness with all places and incredibly short attention spans, This is All Yours does begin make sense. With ethereal vocal harmonies taking listeners into a near-trance state, this album does not fall far from An Awesome Wave. Featuring love songs interspersed with tongue-in-cheek lyrics that border laughable and creepy like “I’m gonna bed into you like a cat beds into a beanbag” or “Turn you inside out and lick you like a crisp packet” from “Every Other Freckle”, their shows are set to be fun ones.
Supported by Asgéir, alt-J are set play their final show in Perth on May 15 at HBF Stadium. Tickets still available via Ticketmaster.
