“I’m gonna bed into you like a cat beds into a bean bag. Turn you inside out and lick you like a crisp packet.” Out of context, their lyrics sound strange, but with the release of ÔÇÿThis Is All Yours’ Alt-J have cemented their status as one of the most unique groups in the UK.
Formed studying at Leeds, their unique sound developed whilst quietly rehearsing in halls. “It was a good liberal environment to flourish in as a band” says keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton. “It was exciting to be in a new place. Leeds is an awesome city; as a uni it’s very diverse and full of new things to try all the time, we really enjoyed it.”
Experimentation is a theme consistent throughout their music; using instruments in novel ways to create sounds that are unlike any other. “It helps that none of us are particularly well trained. I trained classically as a pianist, but I have no idea about keyboards and synthesisers and stuff. I just made it up myself.” says Unger-Hamilton.
“Thom is a self taught drummer who experiments a lot with what drums can do. Joe is, again, a self taught guitarist. We’re more interested in what we discover when we mess about with the guitar to see what we can create, rather than the strict discipline from learning traditionally. It gives us a lot more freedom in what we can do in the studio.”
You only need to look to the closing moment of debut album ‘An Awesome Wave’ to see this in action. The distinctive bhangra-eqsue riff that defines ÔÇÿTaro’ was not from a sitar, but a guitar and a roll of tape.
‘This Is All Yours’ marks a bold departure from their debut. Written between December 2013 and May 2014, the album was turned around quickly. In that time, they became a trio when bassist Gwil Sainsbury left the band. “We didn’t change massively. If anything, it made it more free; we felt less tied to our initial roles. We still hark back to days in Leeds, to what defined us as a group of people. We’re democratic; we put our friendship before all else.” This foundation has anchored them on their rapid rise from playing open mic nights, to hitting platinum with their debut album.
“A few songs were ones we’d never finished, but we knew we wanted to put on a album. It wasn’t the case that we put the best stuff on the first album, more that there were some songs that just weren’t ready in time. ÔÇÿNara’ and ÔÇÿBloodflood Pt 2′ for example, were written when we were touring the first album. Finally, there are songs written while we were recording ÔÇÿThis Is All Yours’.”
ÔÇÿThis Is All Yours’ is notably different to previous releases. ÔÇÿHunger Of The Pine’, with its Miley Cyrus samples, sounds a million miles from ÔÇÿTesselate’, but despite it’s differences, is instinctively recognisable as Alt-J. “The song writing process varies between songs. Joe Newman (guitarist and singer) is responsible for the lyrics; he enjoys writing lyrics and is really good at it. As to the rest, it’s open. We work best when in a room without pressure to produce. It’s when we’re least expecting to come up with something, the best things happen.”
The artwork for ÔÇÿThis Is All Yours’ reflects the bold progression in Alt-J’s sonic boundaries. “You’ve got to produce artwork before finishing the album. We’re a band with lots of art graduates, so we look forward to producing album artwork. In reality, you’re caught up in producing the album and don’t have time to even think about the artwork! We were leafing through Thom’s old sketchbooks, and found a piece he’d done at university – once it was cropped to a square, it looked really awesome. The bold primary colours, red, green, blue, yellow, they dictated the feel and visual output for the whole album.”
After playing to packed stages at Glastonbury, Latitude and Reading & Leeds, Alt-J took their album on a UK wide tour in December. Having grown up playing intimate shows, this was one of the first time they were filling arenas. They’ve developed as a band pretty quickly. “We’re more confident on stage. We used to be shy and uncomfortable, not look at the crowd. We’re used to performing live now, and we’re lucky as we have the budget to bring big production with us on tour in terms of lights and visuals, which increases the spectacle of the live show hugely.”
“We come up with some new music on tour, but it’s really hard to coherently work on things. We don’t spent much time as a group with our instruments, bar being on stage. It’s not like we sit around with guitars all day. When you’re on tour it can be hard to survive mentally. We like to do our own things too; be it exercise, sitting around reading or watching a series – whatever it is you need to not go mad, you do. We’re not putting pressure under ourselves, because not cracking up is more important. We’ll work on new stuff when we’re ready.”
The title of their sophomore album ÔÇÿThis Is All Yours’ comes from a painting by drummer Thom. “We felt it summed up the fact that once a piece of work is finished, it no longer belongs to you; it belongs to everyone who listens to it.” It may belong to everyone, but it is most undeniably Ôêå.
