Phoebe Lease ’21 | Arts Editor
Like them or not, you probably have some experience with Alt-J’s music. Whether it’s the mumbled lyrics, the unusual instrumentation or the twee habit of referring to their band as just “∆,” most people who are familiar with the indie music scene immediately recognize Joe Newman’s airy vocals and intertwining harp melodies.
Now, the group tries their hand at hip-hop on their new album, “Reduxer.” It is a reworking of 2017’s “RELAXER,” and features a variety of artists, from Pusha-T to experimental rapper Danny Brown. The group explained in a press release: “It’s no secret that we love and are influenced by hip-hop, and it’s always been a dream of ours to work with hip-hop artists … [w]ith Reduxer, that dream has come true.”
The original “RELAXER” is a concept album of sorts, following fictional characters in various scenarios and tying them together through repetition of themes and lyrics. In step with the group’s previous style, the songs are often quirky in their lyricism and narrow in on obscure topics.
“Adeline,” for example, is a love song for a beautiful woman told through the eyes of a Tasmanian Devil (yes, the Australian marsupial). “In Cold Blood” describes a murder at a sunny, bombastic pool party, and “Hit Me Like That Snare” details a scandalous night at an “imaginary sex hotel.”
But among the goofy, tongue-in-cheek bits are still beautiful stories about love and loss. Take the chorus of “3WW”: “Oh, these three worn words / Oh, that we whisper / Like the rubbing hands / Of tourists in Verona / I just want to love you in my own language.” Just like their first two albums, Alt-J succeeds in painting a world in each album that listeners will want to revisit.
Unfortunately, for a lot of critics and fans (including myself), the same cannot be said about “Reduxer.” Some of the songs are reworked to their advantage; Pusha-T’s verses work well with the guitar riffs in “In Cold Blood,” and Jimi Charles Moody turns “Hit Me Like That Snare,” a chaotic, Halloween-esque song, into a slow and sultry song for the dance floor. But other songs seem to lose their original meaning in the new versions, turning a cohesive story into a mixed bag of songs that don’t feel like they belong together.
“Adeline” and “Pleader,” two songs that include Alt-J’s trademark haunting choir and pastoral aura, are lost in the heavy trap beats and auto-tuned verses. That’s not to say that these music styles don’t have a place in Alt-J’s music, but they could have suited different parts of the album better. Ultimately, half of “Reduxer” just made me wish I was listening to “RELAXER” instead.
It will be interesting to see what direction the band takes from here on out. While their first two albums, “An Awesome Wave” and “This Is All Yours,” sound stylistically similar to “RELAXER,” it is unlikely that Alt-J will make this hip-hop album a one-time experiment. The group also has a lot of material that borrows from cultures and music styles outside of their native England; “Reduxer” features a song each in French, German and Spanish, and some of their previous work draws on historical subjects around the world. It’s hard to predict what will come next for the band; they could release another better-developed venture into hip-hop, or take another path entirely. But, given their boundless creativity, it’s guaranteed that it will be an interesting listen if nothing else.
