No longer content with falling into the ‘dreamy indie-pop’ category, the only way to describe the Alpine of their second album is sensual. With R&B slow jams and big band sounds, any reservations they had with experimenting on their first record A Is For Alpine completely disappear, Yuck is a daring leap of self-involvement, lust and narcissism and it’s addictive.
The sextet (no pun intended) seem to be moving out of the traditional indie-pop windows into a brand new realm – to what, we don’t know, but it’s certainly an exciting transition. A beautiful mix of toeing the line of something completely new and playing to the pop sensibilities they know they excel at, Yuck’s only downfall is that at times its multiple directions compromise the album’s cohesiveness.
From conventional (and unbelievably catchy) pop tracks in Crunches and Need Not Be to a full brass section filling up the R&B-heavy Damn Baby, it’s certainly a versatile record. But the rollercoaster, if you will, goes up and down a bit fast – the build-up not quite suspenseful enough, and the moments of release too hasty.
The jumps from guitar tracks to electro-poppy, synth heavy songs seem a little erratic and lack cohesion in their order. None of the songs are bad by any means, but at times it feels like the collection could be tightened to make everything flow just that tiny bit smoother.
All things aside, the Melbourne-based band has been working incredibly hard over their few years’ existence, and the second album is a real testament to that. Their maturity and genuine technical abilities have begun to push them out of the saturated Australian indie-market and the appeal seems much wider now.
Vocalists Phoebe Baker and Lou James are still equal parts dreamy and groove-inducing; breathily purring their words which, while simple, create an immediately intimate atmosphere that will translate beautifully live. If that first record garnered them a spot on Jimmy Kimmel’s show, it’s only a matter of time before Alpine go truly global.
–
‘Yuck’ is out now via Ivy League Records.
Watch: Alpine – Foolish
