Stop the Presses: Alt- j Has New Track, ‘hunger of the Pine’ [stream]

Alt-J – Hunger Of The Pine SoundCloud

There will probably never be a time when the words “new Alt-J” don’t make us immediately want to jump up and down with overwhelming excitement — the kind of excitement usually reserved for fifth graders birthday parties, not minimalistic math-pop. We’ve known the new Alt-J record was coming, but apart from little Instagram teasers, nothing has really been heard. Yesterday, however, “Hunger of the Pine” dropped and, well, it’s worth the wait. The band holds on to their complicated weaving of sounds and is still effortlessly grounded by singer Joe Newman’s uniquely unsettling tenor — they’ve added more synths this time, though, as well as some french backing vocals and some Miley Cyrus samples. The track slowly builds from a beautiful exercise in minimalism to a bubbling mixture of sounds that still manages to feel expertly restrained. Listen to the track above and remember why you fell in love with this band in the first place. Their newest album This is All Yours is out 9/22.