7 minute read
ALT-J
This Is All Mine: Alt-J lead singer and guitarist, Joe Newman explores the evolution of the band, from Leeds to Mercury and around the world, as they simultaneously prepare for the release of the new album ‘The Dream’, and the 10th anniversary of their debut.
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Approaching the release of Alt-J’s fourth LP: ‘The Dream’, we simultaneously inch ever-closer to the decennial anniversary of ‘An Awesome Wave,’ the Mercury Prize-winning debut album from a band that took an unmistakable narrativefocused folktronica past the bounds of indie venues and into the worldwide mainstream. Tattooed into the memory of 2012 Tumblr users, alongside Born To Die, Lonerism and Coexist as ¼ of most four-tile popularalternative album posts, its tracks were written and had their first live audience at number 24 of Leeds’ Ash Grove, a street known by most of the students who live in the area as a vital link in the common journey between the second year lifestyle of Hyde Park, and the maturity of third-year post-grad life in Burley Park and Headingley.
The collaboration of allegorical, allusion-ridden lyricism, with a juxtaposition of acoustic, world-influenced rhythms and electronic elements, was moving in its originality. Tracks like Taro with its researched storyline and supporting prosody, or Fitzpleasure with its violent dynamic leaps from acapella chanting and pretty guitar lines, to rattling sub-bass textures, made listening to their records cinematic, like watching documentaries.
“We were kind of like cowboy builders; we didn't really know how to construct a song. Our approach was finding vignettes that we liked and then glueing them together… Netflix, podcasts, a story you've heard from someone else or even overhearing conversation - it all finds its way to that sinkhole inside of you that then, in that darkness, creates a story. You can never really turn the inspiration off; if it goes through the filters and makes you feel a certain way, you inevitably hold on to it.”
From their Hyde Park living room to the Lending Room to Brudenell Social Club - the then-students followed the familiar progression of Leeds bands, except, instead of splitting up once their degree was complete, they took what they had written with them and won the UK’s most prestigious music prize. From there, it was global tours, festival headlines, a Grammy nomination for 2014 follow-up ‘This Is All Yours’, selling out Madison Square Gardens, and another mercury nomination for third LP, 2017’s ‘Relaxer’.
When your trajectory is as steep as it was for us, you don't know any different. We had never been in bands before and I don't think we ever thought we would be successful. I think we were more overwhelmed that there were people in the music industry that were taking us seriously enough to consider the opportunity to actually write an album.”
As the touring calmed to a halt, the trio took 2019 off as a year to ‘reflect and recharge’, coming together again in January 2020, at their studio in East London, to begin working on ‘The Dream’, and in August 2020, recording began with the award-winning producer behind the first three albums, Charlie Andrews. Not only did they embrace continuity with production, but while assessing the source of musical inspiration, for Newman at least, the influences remained the same as well.
“I don't know if this comes as a surprise but, I find that I'm listening to less music as I get older. As years go by, creating work seems to become more of a job, like the upkeep of paying attention to new releases, seems to overwhelm, I think. So, I revert to podcasts and Netflix as a way of winding down, where once I was listening to music. I discovered where my passions lie and I think I've reached a comfort zone in knowing what inspires me to
“Over time I think, as a songwriter, I became less self-conscious. I was always troubled by the fact that I wasn't a tortured soul. I come from a pleasant upbringing and I didn't have much to sing about so I would often take other people's work and then sing about that…in time, I started singing about things that I was more interested in personally. In this album, I think you hear that in a greater capacity than maybe on previous albums.”
The Dream does feel more intimate - an album highlight ‘Happier When You’re Gone’ begins with the line ‘Joe, only fuck-ups need clean starts’; although in keeping with the band’s trope of referential lyricism (the song inverts the narrative of the Hendrix-famed classic, ‘Hey Joe’), it is impossible to ignore the relevance of the lead singer’s first name. Similarly, the chorus of the recent heartbreaking single ‘Get Better’, was developed from a phone recording of Newman singing his partner through bad period pains. While the storyline of losing a loved one is not only universally relatable but particularly poignant right now, at the heart of the track is an anecdote.
“If you're telling a story I think, for the person telling the story, one of the most important elements is truth, and I think that can come from personal experience. If you weave your personal experience into a fictitious story, it locks in a certain amount of authenticity that I think translates well when you play it to other people.” This personal element also weaves its way into The Dream’s musical arrangement; the album opens with a recording of the band’s sound tech enjoying a Coke on tour and closes with Newman laughing - a welcome relief after some of the saddest lyricism I’ve heard in a while. The recent single & ‘Left Hand Free’ of the new album, ‘Hard Drive Gold’, features a voice note of synth player, Gus Unger-Hamilton’s mum saying ‘scum’, while his wife provides backing on ‘The Actor’. Plus, drummer Thom Green’s girlfriend and Newman’s parents also feature.
“My mum just had to say hot. She did about 30 takes and even the take we went with wasn't quite right but, in a way, not perfecting the brief is a nice thing in itself. It's just my mum being my mum and that's more important than getting it right. I think it's a nice accolade, to your relationship. When my parents inevitably pass away, my memories of them won't just be in pictures or video footage - it will be intertwined in a really 10 years on and, much like the students migrating from Hyde Park to the outskirts of the city, Alt-j have walked up the hill and into somewhere recognisable, yet still comparatively new. Familiar are the dynamics, the timbres of the percussion, the narrative lyricism and Joe Newman’s unmistakable falsetto tone; new, is the effect of the passage of time. No longer are they uni students writing solely about emotional rollercoasters they aren’t actually on, but merely watching from the splashzone; this time, it really does feel that bit more personal.
11th February 2022 via Infectious Music/ BMG and will be available on CD and "OVER TIME I THINK, Just click on the links below:
AS A SONGWRITER, I BECAME LESS SELFCONSCIOUS. I WAS vinyl. There will also be a limited-edition hardback book CD that reproduces the notebook Joe Newman used ALWAYS TROUBLED to write the album, featuring BY THE FACT THAT I WASN'T A TORTURED his original handwritten lyrics and drawings. SOUL." Fans can also enter a draw to win a replica of the guitar Newman used to write The Dream, inscribed with the lyrics of the song. All proceeds from the draw will go to Plan International – a global children’s charity working in over 50 countries to create lasting equality for girls and protect the rights of all children.
