THE ALPINE – A IS FOR ALPINE
Sounding like long lost pop-cousin of Sigur Ros, The Alpine are instead straight out of Melbourne. Like a more energetic version of The XX, the sextet have created a bouncing, electronic, wispy world that is full of indie charm. Despite having only released their debut album on Friday, A is for Alpine was this week’s feature album on Triple J. First single Hands begins with a reverberating electronic pulse, appearing from a distance to drive through the whole track. Next entries are echoing female voices and a crisp drum beat moving forward with exciting drops in texture and dynamics. The chorus welcomes the addition of a metallic guitar and bursts of rhythmic shake-up. Cruisy and tapered, Hands is an accurate taste of the rest of the album, where wispy vocal lines solid beats intertwine tight guitar lines over clean, percussive foundations. At first Into The Wild with its upbeat energy and offbeat clapping kit might be confused with your old copy of Footloose. A cheeky syncopated cowbell appears before a scrubbing electric guitar sweeps everything away and overtakes the entire rhythm, paving the way for those floating vocals to descend again. With cleverly relaying rhythms and roller-coster dynamics, each track on A is for Alpine is layered so carefully they remain unobtrusive, but so texturally intriguing. ****1/2
