alt-J w/ Lovelife @ Myth, Maplewood, MN (31 Oct 2014)

The Myth Audience

Okay, it may have had something to do with the fact that it was Halloween night (and their first Halloween show playing in the States) at the band’s recent sold-out show at Myth, in suburban Maplewood, MN.  The people watching became that much more interesting as a result, and the band did not disappoint the 3000+ party-ready fans that packed the venue for a rollicking evening.

Lovelife

London (via Los Angeles) five-piece band Lovelife opened this fifth night of the tour, in promotion of their three EPs (self-released and on National Anthem), including last year’s Stateless, with an upcoming full-length due soon.  The band has risen out of the ashes of former group Viva Brother, who put out a distinctive debut album (ironically called Famous First Words) only to flame out just a couple years later.

Lovelife as US Presidents

Fully into the Halloween spirit, the five entered to the sounds of Ray Parker’s ‘Ghostbusters Theme’; all dressed in black pants and white dress shirts, with each wearing a different U.S. Presidents (Obama, Clinton, Nixon, etc) mask.  Lee Newell and Ally Young (he, formerly of Mirrors) lead this up-tempo R&B-laced synth pop band, who is making their most of a second musical life.



Opening number, ‘Tonight’ had the spaced-out quirkiness of early MGMT, and the band deftly conquered initial feedback issues, to get the mostly younger crowd on their good side.  Unfortunately the masks were too hot to continue in (I felt the most sorry for the keyboardist with Nixon mask) and were shelved right after the second song.



Other keyboard-based songs had the musical elegance of Keane or the just-disbanding The Knife and singer Newell slinked lithely about the stage like Suede’s Brett Anderson. Their satisfying 40 min. set included brand new single, ‘The End of the World’ with a hope that they return, once their full-length is finished.

alt-J: Gus Unger-Hamilton

Leeds, UK’s alt-J has always been a musically hard-to-pin-down band; from its experimental Radiohead-esque tempo changes, to a jazz/ jam band inventive way of constructing a song, to vocals that are sometimes indistinguishable.  This so called “folkstep” (a synthy blend of Mumford-esque folk and dubstep) has polarized many critics as a result, but the Mercury Music Prize-winning band has sold out every local appearance to date, and the capacity crowd in attendance was all in their corner, often with raised hands in the form of the band’s triangular A-shaped logo.

alt-J: Joe Newman

The four-piece [Joe Newman (guitar/lead vocals), Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards/vocals), Thom Green (drums), and new member Cameron Knight (bass/guitar)] is out in support of their sophomore release, This is All Yours (Atlantic Records) and opened their 72 min. set with ‘Hunger of the Pine’ (complete with its Miley Cyrus sample), from the new album.  Each of the four were dressed in dark clothing, ensconced along the front edge of the stage, and were all in Kiss-like facepaint, with singer Newman ably pulling off a Peter Criss Catman look.



Numerous Vari-Lites and a light-patterned backdrop, illuminated an otherwise dimly-lit stage and the crowd rose, with second song, ‘Fitzpleasure’ and its hypnotic vocal harmonies.  ‘Left Hand Free’, the second single from the band’s new album, began the multi-panel patterns on their lighted backdrop that would continue for the rest of the show, and there was an overall exact precision to their playing the songs.



“Good effort!”, Hamilton called out, admiring all the varied costumes in the audience before the slower ‘Matilda’, which had the crowd shouting the chorus back to the band.  Newer songs like ‘Every Other Freckle’ and ‘Warm Foothills’ fit in nicely amongst the older tracks, the band expanding its ever-experimental sound palette to go beyond any typical alternative band’s musical description.  Not much was said between songs, other than the usual pleasantries, the band instead focused on the delivery of their music, and probably not trying to sweat the Kiss face paint off.



Even the encore, which started with new album hidden track, a turned-inside out cover of Bill Withers’ ‘Lovely Day’ stretched out in a most relaxed way.  An abbreviated version of the album’s “song cycle” followed, with ‘Nara’ and ‘Leaving Nara’ played back to back, in an ode to the Japanese city of the same name.  ‘Breezeblocks’ from their debut album, and a song which went Top 10 on the Indie charts in America, closed the evening.



From the nodding heads and raised hands of the costumed watermelon slice, front row astronaut, and giant panda head, everyone in the crowd (costumed or not) was won over by the end, insuring no doubt another sellout show the next time the band comes to town.



After playing a handful of holiday radio shows, alt-J heads to bigger venues in Europe in 2015, before returning to the U.S. in late March for an impressive headlining gig at New York’s fabled Madison Square Garden.