So the fans of alt-J have been waiting since 2014 for the Leeds boys to release new music. Their 2014 album This Is All Yours jumped straight up to UK number one so their new LP Relaxer has high expectations to live up to.
Earlier in the year the band began teasing about their latest album on Twitter, and by March 5th their first single ‘3WW’ was released, featuring guest vocals from Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice, and strings from the London Metropolitan Orchestra. This track tells the story of a ‘wayward lad’ trying to find love, particularly emphasising how he associates that love with sex. However the girl’s opinion, told through Ellie Rowsell’s vocal, suggests that she does’t want to invest emotionally. Lyrically, this song is clever, referring to the Three Worn Words (3WW) ‘I love you’ and its relationship with sex. It also refers to Verona, the home of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, with an innuendo possibly even referencing the ‘rubbing hands’ of Juliet’s statue there, that is meant to bring love. It’s clever, emotional and creates a sense of intimacy between the band and the listener.
The second track is my personal favourite on the album. At 3.27 minutes long, it’s the shortest track on the record and really sets the more orchestral tone of this album. Newman’s raspy vocals come in fairly early, compared to alt-J’s typically longer instrumental intros to their songs, and follows the 00110011 samples they’d posted on their Twitter previously. This track was also released as a single earlier in the year.
Their album will be released next month and be available on vinyl, CD, digitally and even on cassette. The album has been recorded all over London, from Brixton to Shoreditch to St John’s Wood, and you can almost hear the different influences in their songs. Each song follows its own narrative, exploring different concepts such as relations between sex and love, as well as parental relations and loneliness – all of which are concepts people can relate to. As expected Newman’s vocals are often harmonised with, giving a slight eeriness to the music. The album ebbs in its speed, some songs like ‘Hit Me Like That Snare’ are fairly upbeat and allow you to bounce along too whereas tracks like ‘Adeline’ stay more melancholy and gentle.
One thing that doesn’t sit quite right with me is the flow between the tracks. I felt like since many of the tracks had such long introductions building up to the song that it wasn’t quite as effective as it may have been if used on only one track, and instead slightly disjoints the songs from the next one. That being said, the long intros gave the boys the chance to show off their musical prowess and allowed us to hear the effects and electro vibes we know and expect from alt-J.
The boys have a busy summer ahead of them, taking part in many festivals such as Boardmasters / Glastonbury (UK), Mad Cool Festival (Spain), Lowlands (Netherlands) and Lollapalooza (France) and are traveling all over. With a busy summer and a new album under their belt, hopefully we’ll be seeing them back touring the UK soon.
Words by Megan Bakewell