Dave Simpson 

alt-J : This Is All Yours review – sublime hooks and textures

The Mercury prizewinner’s second album exhibits playful adventure, featuring chiming bells and oriental flutes alongside songs constructed from vocal samples, writes Dave Simpson
  
  

alt-J
Beautifully challenging labyrinth of sound … alt-J Photograph: press

Two years after carrying off the Mercury Music prize for An Awesome Wave, alt-J aren’t exactly pandering to the needs of an unexpected mainstream audience. Minus departed bassist Gwil Sainsbury, their second album exhibits the playful adventure Radiohead didn’t exhibit until their fourth, Kid A. Chiming bells and oriental flutes nestle alongside songs constructed from banks of vocal samples, songs about a Japanese city (Nara) where deer roam, a Miley Cyrus sample and Clangers-type electro giggles. Left Hand Free sounds like a postmodern take on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s southern boogie, while Every Other Freckle’s saucy lyrics – “I’m gonna turn you inside out and lick you like a crisp packet” – may sink their reputation as Steve Reich-listening, chess-playing nerds. Hunger of the Pine and Warm Foothills are stunningly pretty, although This Is All Yours is a more a collection of sublime hooks and textures rather than conventional songwriting. The surprise exception comes several minutes after the expected end, when hidden track Leaving Nara brilliantly weaves Bill Withers’ Lovely Day into their beautifully challenging labyrinth of sound.

 

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