From the offset, the name doesn't do them any favours. Bleeding slight pretentiousness and falling into this sudden cultural fascination with triangles, it would've seen them as just another hipster clan trying to make it big. But given the chance, they do surprise.
First single(s) Matilda/Fitzpleasure displays their sounds from both ends of the spectrum. Matilda's sombre guitar ballad is mile's away from Fitzpleasure's synth like vortex introduced by an acapella build up, carried out by Joe Newman's slurred almost unintelligible trance like vocals add a whole new take to the norm.
Breezeblocks brought them to attention, granting them their first taste of chart success. Also becoming a festival favourite as they played across the UK during the summer, it's folk influenced rhythm eventually getting lost in the mass layers of vocals as they finish off the song.
Interludes I, II and III do that exactly, allowing the listener a break from the complex drum grooves and booming synths. Interlude I is a poetic acapella of group vocals singing in alternate octaves. The second is a sole calming guitar melody that bleeds with the sounds of a busy street in the background. Finally, the third is an eerie mix of vocals worked behind a piano synth.
Taro is the last track on the album. It's Eastern influenced riff rings well among the works of string instruments. Referring to the death of photojournalist Robert Capa and his re-union with war photographer Gerda Taro, the song shuns those who believe that the album has no meaning.
At-J have failed to stick to the rules. By not submitting to a genre, they have managed to fall into their own, branding them pioneers in a way. Managing to break from the norm, not everyone will find it appealing. It's taken the group five years to make this record and it's fair to say - it's been five years well spent.
8.1
Daniel Mburu
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