Awkward phases are a norm. Two years ago, fresh British band Alt-J played to the Laneway crowd in Gardens by The Bay. The four lads set up the instruments themselves prior to their set, mumbled incoherently when introducing themselves and understandably got a little frustrated with the glitchy errors that occurred frequently in their set. But played they did and impressed we were watching them flesh out their unorthodox tunes live — and then just like that, we were denied any more contact time with them.
It’s 2015, and this band is something else entirely now. Clearly more confident and assured in their ability as showmen, Alt-J emerged onstage beaming and raring to make up for that imperfect set two years ago. Backed by a splendid visual backdrop and a radiant lightshow, as well as a completely hungry crowd furiously throwing triangular signs (three points where two lines meet), Alt-J was magnificent.
The Coliseum was packed and the air thick with excitement and humidity as Alt-J rightly took their place as the main attraction for the night on the island of wanton attractions that is Sentosa. They commanded with their presence, the polished sound production, and the ability to hook the crowd from the first song onwards. Not one song performed that night was without sweaty dancing, sporadic screaming, and singing along.
It’s a good time to be touring for the band — with ample songs to fill up an hour and a half of working the stage, and a nice handful songs for everyone to memorise the lyrics to. Hitting it off with ‘Hunger Of The Pine’, Alt-J set the vibe right and continued to please with favourites like ‘Fitzpleasure’, ’Something Good’ and ‘Left Hand Free’ lumped together in twenty minutes of contentment. It was also a pretty cool move of the band to play ‘Bloodflood’ and ‘Bloodflood Pt. II’ back to back to prolong the rush of blood to our heart.
Perhaps what is most intriguing about the music of Alt-J is the haunting and almost unreal vocals of both Joe Newman (lead vocals, guitar) and Gus Unger-Hamilton (vocals, keyboards). Incredibly beautiful and perfectly disorienting at the same time, with the delicate but bold instrumentals, make the music of Alt-J even harder to pin down — basically, nobody makes music like Alt-J.
Leaving the encore for us to sing, we stepped up to the challenge with a deafening “I love you so, I love you so” to the enigmatic and mildly hypnotic ’Breezeblocks’. This is Alt-J alright, and this is all for you.
Text: Delfina Utomo
Photo: Ilyas Sholihyn
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