Uneasy and quintessentially stilted. But on Alex G’s latest affair, he sounds as settled as he ever has.
8.3
Indie artists are no strangers to rabid fanbases. But even Alex G’s following seems peculiar. Something about the heady mix of an unassuming-looking artist, spewing out album after album of kaleidoscopic music without fear of failure has garnered him a near mythological presence. It also helps that the product coming out of this 29 year old is consistently, hauntingly beautiful.
God Save the Animals is Alex G’s tenth album and perhaps his most refined. It doesn’t have the lo-fi buzziness of DSU. It’s not as folksy as Rocket or as scuzzy as House of Sugar.
What it is then? Strangely religious, for one. Multiple songs hint at a spiritual calm having rested over him in a way that none of his other material has ever alluded to. But the references never feel forced or unnatural. Rather, they feel like the natural progression of an artist constantly looking to settle.
And as the album develops, the thesis takes shape. Songs mould into stories about desperate drug dealers making hay or troubled individuals finding sobriety. An early highlight is ‘Runner’, a coasty, smiling affair somehow about a person’s relationship with a drug dealer, where Alex G belts out ‘I have done a couple bad things!’ halfway through. Or the sombre ‘Ain’t It Easy’, a sarastic and swift track about someone taking the long, eye-watering route to sobriety.
Like all of Alex G’s discography, he only exposes the edges of the narrative. Talking to a friend in the middle of the unassuming ‘Ain’t It Easy’, he suddenly blurts out ‘I should have known/That you had lost control’. On the watery ‘Immunity’, an otherwise sweet, warbly track ends with ‘Baby I’m in trouble/Got a new number’. Sudden turns like this are dottest throughout the album.
And that is the reward. An album that feels warm, comforting and soft-edged sinks underneath on occasion. In the past, Alex G would’ve left those moments to simmer below. But, for whatever reason, he feels the need to drag them back up for air on God Save The Animals. It’s his most refined work yet, even if he’s as elusive as ever and better for it.
THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL 