Across the Pond: Alt-J returns to LA with new album, mature sound
British band alt-J returns to Los Angeles for the second time to promote their second album “This is All Yours.” (Courtesy of Gabriel Green)
By Ishan Rampuria
Oct. 20, 2014 6:16 a.m.
There’s something about the British Isles that consistently produces musical greatness; it is inherent to the country, its people and its culture. Popular culture has been defined by bands and artists from the UK; they have consistently created new genres and musical subcultures – from the Beatles’ psychedelic rock in the ’60s all the way through to the explosion of dubstep and drum ‘n’ bass in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Every week, “Across the Pond” will cover a British artist, or an aspect of British music, that has defined modern culture.
Few debut albums in recent memory were as intricately layered and distinct-sounding as alt-J’s “An Awesome Wave,” released in 2012. Syncopated drumbeats, electronic rhythms, folk-influenced guitars and singer Joe Newman’s soft vocals were all meshed together to create sounds that were as catchy as they were indefinable.
The group will return to perform in Los Angeles this Monday, at the Greek Theatre, touring again to promote its second album, “This is All Yours.” Having already performed in Los Angeles during its first tour starting in 2012 and at Coachella the following year, the band returns to America for its second consecutive year.
The group’s live sets derive sounds from its studio recordings, and its ability to recreate the complex song structures and multi-layered textures are what captivated American audiences during their first tour and Coachella debut in 2013. Fans have already indicated their excitement – their current tour is by and large sold out in most venues around the U.S. and their album opened in the top five of the U.S. Billboard charts.
Beginning at Leeds University in former bassist Gwil Sainsbury’s dorm room, alt-J developed its sound without the use of a bass drum with dorm room noise restrictions in mind. With all members studying either fine art or English, the group’s sometimes indecipherable lyrics drew ideas from Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are,” Luc Besson’s film “Leon: the Professional” and Huert Selby, Jr.’s “Last Exit to Brooklyn.”
Alt-J’s entire aesthetic, from its MacBook keyboard-referencing name – pressing Alt J on the Mac keyboard returns the delta symbol – to its obscure lyrical references, produces an aura of unquantifiability that makes it difficult to shoehorn the group as artists of a specific genre. Comparisons to Radiohead may be a bit premature, but the ability to mesh together seemingly disparate genres, such as folk, electronic and hip-hop, is definitely a common quality in both bands.
Following the immense success of “An Awesome Wave,” which went on to win the prestigious Mercury Prize in 2012, awarded to the best British album of the year, the group released “This is All Yours” this past September. The Mercury Prize, which has been awarded to bands such The xx, James Blake and PJ Harvey, catapulted the band into mainstream recognition and preceded a lengthy tour of the U.S. and Austrialia after which bassist Gwil Sainsbury amicably departed the band. Alt-J’s popularity lies with its ability to remain unknown and mysterious, but the group’s newfound popularity became too strenuous for Sainbsury, who did not enjoy touring and the media circus that came with the Mercury Prize.
Following Sainsbury’s departure, the remaining trio refocused their efforts on “This is All Yours,” an album that was more measured and controlled. A recurring motif of the Japanese city, Nara, ties the album together as a piece of music to be listened to as a whole, as opposed to single, discrete songs as was the case with “An Awesome Wave.”
While a few critics viewed the band’s second effort as underwhelming, most agreed that the album highlighted alt-J’s growth as a band that creates smart, textured sounds. “An Awesome Wave” was filled with potential singles, but the album as a whole did not flow perfectly – each song was jam-packed with countless layers and sounds and at times felt a little cloying. With “This is All Yours,” the group isolated some of these ideas and delved deeper into crafting a more focused and atmospheric album.
Having captivated the world with its indescribable, indie rock meets hip-hop and folk sound through its debut album, alt-J returns as a leaner, more mature version of the band that last visited American shores, and the backdrop of the open-air Greek Theatre is the perfect venue to showcase its ethereal second album.
