Review Summary: More Triangles!
There's often a weight that comes with superfluous categorizations like the 'sophomore slump', and no doubt there's going to be ongoing debate about whether or not Mercury Prize winners Alt-J have seceded the curse with
This is All Yours. Chances are, critics will twist and contort themselves to fall into two emerging viewpoints, that a) this is just about the best thing Alt-J could've done after
An Awesome Wave and surpasses it immensely with moody and down trodden cynicism (read:
NME, Pitchfork), or b) this is total bollocks that condescends the consumers rights to be an ignorant and passive receiver (read:
Roger Ebert, Pitchfork dependent upon how widespread option a) becomes). Sifting through hyperbolic sh
it aside, it's apparent Alt-J are neither improving nor degrading, managing to survive their special brand of take it or leave it literary rock and equating to a standard set by their debut.
Anyone who's encountered prerelease singles will probably end up with mixed indicators for the direction of
This is All Yours; "Every Other Freckle" may imply that the smug confidence has been replaced with a defiant glare, while "Left Hand Free" may just prove that
An Awesome Wave had some fairly awful experiments lay kicking and screaming on the cutting room floor. In all honesty though, the propensity for wank literary references, processed beats and pop experiments continues in much the same quality as they did on their debut. There's little to noticeably delineate "Intro", "Nara", "Warm Foothills" and "The Gospel of John Hurt" to the uneducated ear, and it's safe to say if you had a good relationship with them initially that
This is All Yours won't catch you too off-guard.
The only massively noticeable and ultimately unsettling setback is that
This is All Yours is vacant of a single that could catch attention quite like the sweet and smooth melodies of "Breezeblocks" did. While choice album cuts "Garden of England" and "Choice Kingdom" prove to be among some of the bands finest compositions, they don't protrude with any clear pop hook, instead creating subtly layered compositions of varying emotional texture. This isn't a negative, as the biggest issue prevalent on
An Awesome Wave was its stilted flow and all together poorly informed instrumentals, but with the lack of any obvious single it's hard to imagine the Oxford boffins attracting anymore fans.
And that's ultimately the only direction
This is All Yours goes; horizontal. Not too many are going to be disappointed, nor too few impressed, either. Yes, it's nothing heinous, unlistenable or wretched, but if we are to truly care about what Alt-J have to say on album number three, they're going to have to resolve the two sides of themselves that are currently functional components; the bright, catchy pop of their debut and the dark, flowing work on display here. In the meantime however, here's a few more triangles.
