For legal reasons, what I'm about to say next is a joke - but I would love to deck Alt-J for making me sob like a fucking baby. If you go to listen to their new album The Dream thinking you'll get some new funky tunes as per usual from the band, you are absolutely bloody incorrect.
When they began releasing singles, I was a little underwhelmed, but still eager to hear. the new album. And I am so glad I listened - even if it did cause me emotional damage. Shall we start with The Actor? A song about an actor in Hollywood trying to make it but is an addict? Yeah, I sobbed. It's not even remotely a sad, emotional, or slow song, but the lyrics are like a slap to the heart.
But that is just the beginning. The real tear in the heart is Get Better. Even thinking about it I want to throw up and cry. The song is about a man whose wife gets very sick and dies in the span of six months after her diagnosis. You will sob your eyes out. The first time I listened I couldn't even listen all the way through. The second time, I was in a car, trying to cover my eyes and stop the tears. For anyone who knows any kind of grief, Alt-J capture the emotions you go through and squeeze it into a very sincere and emotional five minutes. You will feel understood, in pain, and many other things.
The cover of this new album, although not super similar to their past ones, is still very Alt-J-Esque. Intimate, personal, otherworldly. Alt-J make messes seem beautiful, not just through their stunning music, but their beautiful art too.
Alt-J have had a very special place in my heart for many years due to the song Matilda which has a significant personal meaning to me. But they've just given a whole new layer for me to love and be attached to them - thanks dudes.
Although I won't be going to see the band this year, next time they're here I will definitely be trying to cop a ticket, but until then, go cry to Get Better with me.
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