Alt-J: This Is All Yours

Justin Jacobs on September 23, 2014

Alt-J burst onto the indie-pop scene in 2012 with An Awesome Wave, which was exactly that: a genre-melting, kaleidoscopic album that won the Mercury Prize and swept many year-end lists. On follow-up This Is All Yours, the British, newly downsized trio—bassist Gwil Sainsbury bailed earlier this year—stretch out even further. While Wave felt intimate and contained, Yours presents so many unique swaths of sound that you’ll want to turn up the volume to soak it all up. The band’s dynamic range is astounding: The whispered “Arrival In Nara” is lush and lovely, while “Left Hand Free,” the band’s first-ever real rocker, kicks like Modest Mouse on acid and “Every Other Freckle” lumbers along swinging disco-ball fists. Alt-J love to toy with sound, whether it is a pan flute, handclaps, a cappella vocals, jilted percussion or buzzing bass, giving these songs a truly psychedelic texture, and making This Is All Yours another awesome record.

Artist: Alt-J
Album: This Is All Yours
Label: Canvasback / Infectious Music