Alex G - God Save the Animals
Domino
Alex G's ninth studio album 'God Save the Animals' solidifies Alex G's already dense discography with yet another dynamic and potent project. The dream-state aesthetic that Alex G often traverses finds itself blooming in God Save the Animals. Somewhere between a hell-ish hand and a caressing touch you, the listener, will find yourself - in the loving arms of doomsday himself.
Alex G's signature acoustic jangle hangs heavy as ever. Each strum feels like an earthquake in an ever-searching ocean - vast and void of all hope. Often paced at a sluggish tempo the downtrodden feel across God Save the Animals is marvelously effective in weighing souls. Like strolling through a lucid dream where surroundings wither away as you walk, Alex G paint vivid pictures in your minds eye. A walk through the park as it ages through the seasons with each step sounds like the kind of world where Alex G resides. A constant shedding of what is to what was cycles in an increasingly sped-up state. Leaves grow as they fall, flowers bloom as they perish.
Alex G's music feels mature, like it has seen things - although an underlying tone of youthful mischievousness persists. Once you get to a certain level of talent and songwriting skill, nuance is the thing which tips the material in the direction of world class. Teeny details and melodies introduce themselves deep into rotations of the record. Layers unfold like the most subtle of flavours in a perfectly cooked meal. Sitting in the sublime purity of the moment is a necessary thing from time to time - God Save the Animals is one of these moments.
'Headroom Piano' pulls on jagged screeches of guitar and a chaotic sound palette to invoke unease. Like a storm at sea the waves threaten to interrupt the occasion. Never-endingly musical, well-fleshed out ideas and hints of secret worlds are alluded to across the records runtime. Glimpses of potential further material and teases at recurring themes in the album pop up from time to time - easter-egg type stuff. There's a lot more going on outside of the main melody and rhythm than meets the eye/ear at any one time. Decorated in musical drapery and bolstered by a seductive depth, God Save the Animals feels like a magnetic pull - deep down and vibrant. The underworld awaits those that feed into its sadistic charm.
"Load it up, pull your trigger like the back of my hand"
