Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run. Nirvana’s Nevermind. Radiohead’s In Rainbows. Those are all titles of albums largely considered to be “perfect.” Another one of those “perfect” albums lies within Leeds foursome alt-J’s An Awesome Wave. The 2012 release catapulted the folktronica outfit to the top of indie radio and simultaneously created expectations higher than Snoop Doggy Dog. In September, they released their sophomore effort, This Is All Yours, an impressive follow-up that, judging by Monday night’s show, will need a few more listens before its songs settle in live.
Nearly two years to the day since their first Australian gig at Ding Dong Lounge, alt-J returned to play The Forum ahead of their appearances on The Falls circuit. After the show was announced in late August, tickets sold out to the 1,500 person capacity venue almost instantly. Gumtree tickets were harder to find than MH370 and even if you were lucky to find a golden ticket, you would have had to be prepared to pay a premium price. So it wasn’t surprising when I rocked up to the venue and spotted one hopeful fan standing outside hoping that maybe his sign and his look of despair would bring him one step closer to seeing the supersonic foursome that is alt-J.
After taking the stage to rapturous applause around 9pm, the guys launched right into a growling version of Hungry of the Pine. Unfortunately, Miley didn’t make the trip down under for the occasion and we were instead left with her charcoal voice groveling in between surging instrumentations While it wouldn’t be my first choice for an opener, alt-J made it make sense and at least we could all breathe a sigh of relief that there would be no more Miley on the night.
Meandering through tracks from both albums, the foursome appeared stately onstage, dressed in black and positioned four across. Joe Newman’s vocals were stunningly crisp and rarely wavered out of tune. His harmonies with Gus Unger-Hamilton were biting, especially on Dissolve Me, with each of their vocals perfectly falling into one another’s. All night, these were complemented by Thom Green’s percussion. It certainly didn’t hurt that the Forum proved to have acoustics that made each tap and hi-hat tap fly across the room.
As to be expected, songs from An Awesome Wave were received with much more enthusiasm than tracks from the new album. I don’t think it was that the songs didn’t translate live, I think it was that no matter what they release, alt-J is always going to struggle with making their new material one-up the old. Songs like Tesselate and Taro cast a fog of enchantment across the crowd, grooving along and capturing the entirety of the room. A cinematic rendition of Bloodflood was followed fittingly by Bloodflood pt. II, but as the old saying goes, sometimes you just can’t beat the original.
But just as it seemed like An Awesome Wave would steal the show, they came in with a haunting whistle solo on Warm Foothills. Nara was another selection that proved to elicit a powerful reaction, with its fiery “hallelujahs” sung like a trumpet blasting through the night. Of course, they decided to finish up with Breezeblocks, giving everyone that feel good sing-a-long.
When thinking about alt-J’s performance, it’s also important to recognize that bands are constantly moving forward and with that, comes the acceptance that we have to look beyond the perfection that is An Awesome Wave. They will forever be known as one of those bands that laid down a “perfect” album, but it’s time that we recognize that perfection is hard to emulate and often times it’s the imperfections that tend to grow on you.
BY LAUREN GILL
Photo by Anna Kanci
Loved: The Warm Foothills whistle solo.
Hated: The steamy temperature.
Drank: Water.
