alt-J - The Dream

Album Review

Feb 14

alt-J

The Dream

The highlights are the lows - where alt-J allows the sadness to swell and the dynamics to wander.

Four years after RELAXER confused and impressed music listeners worldwide, alt-J returns with a more focused attitude to its anxious and dizzying rock approach.

The days of Breezeblocks are far in the rear-view mirror - released an incredible ten years ago now. Instead, The Dream is like a carousel, slowly taking you around the full environment the musical trio has to offer. The album does not listen like a front-to-back cohesive piece of art but instead takes you by the hand and points and what they are capable of, one song at a time.

If listening to The Dream was like drawing a letter - it would be the letter U. The opener “Bane” throbs and builds for 5+ minutes with some sparse riffs and group vocals.

Next, “U&ME” and “Hard Drive Gold” are the most upbeat tracks in the 49 minutes, with relatively catchy rock riffs - but nothing notably noteworthy.

The first song to reach out and yank you into The Dream world is “Happier When You’re Gone” - a Ben Howard-esque slow-burn, both dripping with melancholy and passion. If you were cleaning your room while listening to the album, this would be the moment you’d stop what you were doing to listen.

It’s a tangible shift in the album and one signifying we’re not going back to the upbeat foundation laid in the first three tracks.

Keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton told Rolling Stones, "This is gonna sound really extreme, but something died on Relaxer and something was reborn on The Dream - we've entered a new life cycle."

On the other hand, "Happier When You're Gone" seems like the death of the album's first half. From here, beautiful tunes like "Get Better", "Philadelphia," and "Walk a Mile" take the reigns of The Dream - largely sorrowful and patient compositions, leaning on Joe Newman's one-of-a-kind vocal tones.

At this point in their career arc, it appears the band is comfortable and confident - feeling no pressure whatsoever to do or be anything except themselves. Lovely songs like “Walk a Mile” repeat the same riff for far too long, “Delta” is a short 1 minute a cappella, and other ideas across The Dream are extended far beyond their depth.

But zooming out - its nothing but refreshing. There is nothing complicated musically, nothing overproduced, nothing euphoric, and nothing jaw-dropping - but when put together, The Dream is the whole package.

It won’t leave you with a sense of optimism, or the urge to get up and dance. Not even close. But, it is sonically perfect, littered with understated risk and impressive musicianship.

You just might not notice it the first go-round.

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