alt-J and the melancholy of going around the city
The first times I heard alt-J were when my dad would bring me home from school or take me places by car and Breezeblocks would play on the rock radio. The year was probably 2013, and I was in my first year of high school. I didn’t pay much attention to them until probably after high school, in 2016, when I got a job as an entry level software developer.
This first job was on the north side of the city, and I live on the east side, which meant I had to take the bus and the train every day. Going around the city was extremely anxiety inducing to me, but I would pack my phone with a bunch of music and accept that this was my life now.
I was commuting to work, and then from work to the university (which was near my house). And then, late at night, I would go home.
I was a lonesome person, socially anxious, and I would always daydream I had met my significant other during these commutes somehow. It never happened.
My mental health declined as the years went by and I finally went to meet a psychologist. I think at the time I was already listening to a lot of alt-J and The National. I finally listened to "an awesome wave". The psychologist was a quite bad experience I had to endure for a while, but it was a bit nice commuting to her office, on the neighborhood I then lived in 2020 and 2023.
During the pandemic, I probably started listening to them a lot more, and started loving the band. I would watch their live on KEXP all of the time. I finally got a girlfriend, and we would drunkenly sing Breezeblocks on the karaoke sometimes.
When "Get Better" came around, in 2021, still during the pandemic, I remember crying a lot to it and resonating a lot to it and I would sing it to my girlfriend when she got sad. I love the line where they sing about singing Elliott Smith's Angeles, which I love to sing as well.
There are two songs which are very interesting - "Dancing in the Moonlight", which is a reimagined version of the song made by Thin Lizzy. I love the original version, it’s pretty dance-y, but this one is really melancholic. It makes me feel like I’m in a party somewhere and it’s getting late and I need to go home. It sounds like a lullaby, with the acoustic guitar playing so sweet. There’s also a soft violin which brings some emotion to it. The song builds up to a climax where we get some percussions, but the acoustic guitar still plays. This version is so sweet, but it’s short, so you feel like you need more of it. It feels like dreaming and wanting more of that dream, but you have to wait until you sleep again...
The other one, “House of the Rising Sun", is quite interesting. I always thought it had been written by The Animals, or Joan Baez – both have interesting versions of this song. But it seems that it is a folkloric song from New Orleans, so the alt-J version is just another reimagining of it. Again, with some of the greatest lines of acoustic guitar. The song keeps building up to a chorus where they sing “happy happy happy happy fun day day”.
The album cover of Relaxer, the album where this song is featured, comes from LSD Dream Emulator, the weird psychedelic PSX game.
I don’t know what gives, but this band always remind me of places I’ve been. It reminds me of growing up, growing old, and always commuting. Always going places, at night. It reminds me of the melancholy of going home.
I love alt-J so much.