5 Must-Watch Alt-J Videos

The much awaited day-long two city festival EMERGE 2015 featuring Alt-J is almost here. Apart from producing stellar alt-rock tunes, the band is also known for its provocative and often disturbing videos. Here are our picks.

“Pusher”

Alt-J’s latest video release is of their fourth single “Pusher”, from their second full-length album This Is All Yours. Intensely desperate and lonely, the video literally revolves around a man who walks into a floodlit stadium ground, stands on a pulpit and begins a tormented monologue in French about mercy and violence before violently breaking his own neck. Frontman Joe Newman’s soft vocals in this slow song contrast neatly against the man’s anguished cries.

 

“Every Other Freckle”

The third single from This Is All Yours actually has two official videos. The premise of both is the same ”“ it’s about the passion and sexual tension between a girl and a boy. Newman croons “Turn you inside out and lick you like a crisp packet” and “Devour me” over slow-mo videos that emphasize the raw, animal attraction between the couple.

 

“Fitzpleasure”

Creating a world where ordinary urban life is shown in monochrome to look as dark and dreary as it is sometimes known to be, Alt-J’s wickedly humorous video is inspired by American novelist Hubert Selby’s novel, Last Exit To Brooklyn. Specifically influenced by a character named Tralala (hence the harmonies in the beginning) who is gang-raped in the book, the video features people with mutated and morphed body parts ”“ a man with a tongue for an eye, for one. The song is number 10 on their debut album, An Awesome Wave.

 

“Breezeblocks”

The fourth song off An Awesome Wave has a video that begins with a married man who has just murdered a lady. What first seems like a case of domestic violence, where the man is to blame, suddenly takes a chilling turn, involving knives, broken bottles and a prisoner tied up in a closet. Nothing is what it seems ”“ but we don’t want to give away too much and spoil it. We’ll leave you to watch it yourself and be amazed.

 

“Left Hand Free”

“Left Hand Free,” the second single from This Is All Yours, has two official videos ”“ but it’s the second one that’s worth watching. It’s no wonder the video is intensely satirical, with a typical American pool party and beer-chugging kids yelling and jumping. The song is the least Alt-J-ish track we’ve heard, with a strong southern rock sound. Starting with bikini and speedo-clad youngsters seemingly having the summer party of their lives, the video ends with a sudden invasion of gunmen, who shoot down all the partygoers.

EMERGE 2015 takes place at Bhartiya City, Bengaluru on February 28^th and at Huda Grounds, Gurgaon on March 1^st. Check out the full lineup below, and buy tickets for the festival here.

Daniel Waples feat. The Pete Box

Advaita (Gurgaon) / Parvaaz (Bengaluru)

Rudimental DJ

Alt-J