Written by: Kiera Roedel | Copy Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Content warning<\/strong>: this article contains references to murder, domestic violence, drugs and addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The death of the American Dream seems a strange subject to tackle for British indie rock trio alt-J, but that is exactly what they did with their fourth studio album, \u201cThe Dream.\u201d Released Feb. 15, 2022, the album contains 11 songs, each a short vignette of somebody\u2019s life in modern-day America. The band\u2019s trippy songwriting, with spare, occasionally nonsensical lyrics and stunning guitar work, does a great job of telling these stories in an emotionally impactful and musically satisfying way, exuding the sensation of wandering through the quiet streets of a dying city, where sickly green weeds peek up from cracks in the sidewalk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBane\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 The first sound in the first song on this album is the snap-pop of someone opening a soda can, which kind of gives one an idea of what they\u2019re in for here. \u201cBane\u201d tells the story of a teenager who is so addicted to cola that they dream about a swimming pool full of it. Using plenty of choral vocals and guitar, and a quote from Jesus\u2019 crucifixion \u2014 \u201cMy God, my God \/ Why hast thou forsaken me?\u201d \u2014 this is an absolutely incredible opening track. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cU&ME\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 If somebody asked about my favorite song of all time, this would be a serious contender. It is one of the most radio-friendly on the record, it\u2019s much more firmly structured and layered musically than most of the other songs, and more positive lyrically. It was also the album\u2019s first single. Its subject is someone spending a summer day high on psychedelics with their partner at a music festival, upon which the singer concludes, \u201cI could hold on to the memory of that day for the rest of my life.\u201d It\u2019s a simple pleasure in a complicated world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHard Drive Gold\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 \u201cHard Drive Gold\u201d is sung from the perspective of a self-important 15-year-old boy who becomes a millionaire by trading cryptocurrency. One of the shortest songs here, it has a catchy chorus and excellent percussion. Fittingly, the music video is about a nuclear attack on the United Kingdom. Neither a critique nor an endorsement, the band stated, \u201cHow ironically you interpret [the track\u2019s] message is entirely up to you.\u201d It was a perfect choice as the album\u2019s third single and an overall very solid song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHappier When You\u2019re Gone\u201d <\/strong>\u2014 Following two radio-friendly songs, \u201cHappier When You\u2019re Gone\u201d is a ballad that swells and shrinks multiple times; its subject is a disgraced lover who kills their partner in a fit of jealous anger. The pre-chorus is ominous, saying, \u201cThe smell of burning cattle \/ hangs on the westerly \/ sweeping up through the ferns,\u201d which I honestly cannot begin to try to interpret. It\u2019s an okay fourth track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Actor\u201d <\/strong>\u2014 Musically, \u201cThe Actor\u201d picks up right where \u201cU&ME\u201d left off, which I definitely appreciate. It\u2019s about a theoretical aspiring actor who can\u2019t get a big break and ends up selling cocaine to Hollywood stars. It\u2019s the album\u2019s fourth single and easily one of its best tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGet Better\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 A strange choice for the record\u2019s second single considering how slow and long it is \u2014 almost six minutes. It\u2019s also seriously heart-wrenching, its subject being a beleaguered lover whose partner is slowly dying in the hospital. Its lyrics give an idea of what their life together was like, and it\u2019s so sad it sometimes makes me hesitate to listen to \u201cThe Dream\u201d start to finish. It\u2019s a bit disingenuous to call the song skippable for that reason, though, it really is great, it\u2019s just not for casually listening to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cChicago\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 Starting off slow and acoustic, \u201cChicago\u201d soon shifts to a biting techno track inspired by the music genre it shares a name with, Chicago house. Its lyrics are about a sibling pair hiking in the hills above a town until one of them falls to their death. Blunt and substantial, alt-J pulls off this new musical territory perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPhiladelphia\u201d <\/strong>\u2014 The second song on \u201cThe Dream\u201d to take its name from an American city, I can\u2019t help but wonder why the band chose Chicago and Philadelphia specifically. Regardless, \u201cPhiladelphia\u201d is told from the perspective of a recent murder victim who hasn\u2019t died yet, wondering how they got there as they bleed to death in the street. The band describes death as \u201c\u2026 losing my ability to fathom \/ Awake and not awake,\u201d which I find fittingly poignant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWalk a Mile\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 The embodiment of the slow, skippable intro stereotype, when one digs into it, \u201cWalk a Mile\u201d is a fantastic song. \u201cLyrically simple but melodically diverse,\u201d lead singer Joe Newman said about it. Yet another track about death, it touches on alt-J\u2019s frequent topic of domestic violence and references one partner drowning the other. Musically it\u2019s slow but full-bodied and incredibly satisfying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDelta\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 Less than a minute long, \u201cDelta\u201d is an interlude with simple lyrics and no instruments. Perhaps its most interesting feature relates to its title \u2014 alt-J is actually the band\u2019s nickname, its rarely-used actual name being \u0394, the Greek letter delta. The nickname comes from the Mac keyboard shortcut to type a delta. Clearly, then, this song is important to the band, but I don\u2019t really see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLosing My Mind\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 \u201cLosing My Mind\u201d calls back to the musical style of \u201cHappier When You\u2019re Gone\u201d and \u201cWalk a Mile,\u201d though it is faster and more percussion-intensive than either of them. It tells the story of the victim of a serial killer who targets children. Its music builds without a release, which makes the music as strangely uncomfortable as the lyrics. In this case it works in the song\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPowders\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 Rife with spoken words, including a skit in the middle recorded by drummer Thom Sonny Green and his girlfriend, \u201cPowders\u201d ends \u201cThe Dream\u201d on a strangely positive note. With quiet piano and a three-word chorus, it tells of a schoolboy who falls in love with his cashier while buying cologne. It makes the listener wonder what alt-J\u2019s intent really was with this album, with so many stories about murder and dying capped off by one of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With its dark and brooding look at Americana and the human condition, \u201cThe Dream\u201d definitely requires a degree of emotional commitment. But when one sinks their teeth into it, they find a sensational album filled with experimental songs, amazing instrumentals and lyrics about everything from soda to the murder of children. Turn up your speakers for this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10\/10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contact the author at howlcopyeditor@wou.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Written by: Kiera Roedel | Copy Editor Content warning: this article contains references to murder, domestic violence, drugs and addiction. The death of the American Dream seems a strange subject to tackle for British indie rock trio alt-J, but that is exactly what they did with their fourth studio album, \u201cThe Dream.\u201d Released Feb. 15, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1701,5372,5312,2414,5311,5401,5358,5394,5400,4892,5359,5379,4705,5390,5368,5391,5362,5386,5361,5387,5377,3918,5367,4298,4693,5375,5383,205,4583,5373,5366,5399,5392,4293,5360,1754,1716,4289,5385,5376,5371,54,5381,5365,5363,4698,5369,5364,5384,2055,5380,2039,4500,5395,5393,4460,5396,4707,1691,962,1020,5389,3912,5370,5398,5388,5382,5397,5374,4697,5378],"class_list":["post-22051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-acting","tag-actor","tag-addiction","tag-alt-j","tag-america","tag-american-dream","tag-americana","tag-bane","tag-britain","tag-british","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-house","tag-choir","tag-chorus","tag-cocaine","tag-cola","tag-cologne","tag-crucifixion","tag-crypto","tag-cryptocurrency","tag-delta","tag-domestic-violence","tag-drowning","tag-god","tag-guitar","tag-happier-when-youre-gone","tag-hard-drive-gold","tag-hiking","tag-hollywood","tag-hospital","tag-human-condition","tag-indie","tag-instruments","tag-jesus","tag-losing-my-mind","tag-love","tag-lover","tag-lyrics","tag-memory","tag-millionaire","tag-murder","tag-music","tag-music-festival","tag-music-video","tag-nuclear-weapons","tag-percussion","tag-philadelphia","tag-powders","tag-psychedelics","tag-radio","tag-rich","tag-rock","tag-serial-killer","tag-signing","tag-soda","tag-songs","tag-songwriting","tag-spoken-word","tag-stories","tag-summer","tag-swimming","tag-teenager","tag-teens","tag-the-actor","tag-the-dream","tag-ume","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states","tag-walk-a-mile","tag-war","tag-wealth"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22051"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22054,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22051\/revisions\/22054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}