Rocktrospectiva: The Triumphant "This Is All Yours" Turns 10

 

Released on 22 September 2014, "This Is All Yours" was the second studio album by English indie rock band Alt J, the album spawned four singles "Hunger Of The Pine", "Left Hand Free", "Every Other Freckle", and "Warm Foothills", the album topped the UK album charts, the album received a positive review in the United States and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. 

 

The band came to win the Mercury Prize for its 2012 incredible "An Awesome Wave", it was a cool year for the band receiving widespread support and positive review, a couple of years later, the band started the recording of their next one, unfortunately, bassiste Gwil Sainsbury left the band early that year 2014. The majority of the songs on the album were written while touring their debut album, while newer ones such as "Hunger of the Pine" were written in "a really cool little converted Warehouse in Hackney, very cliché East London". Unger-Hamilton said that the "song cycle" of the album is made up of "Arrival in Nara", "Nara" and "Leaving Nara", now "Hunger of the Pine" was one of the songs written after their bass player Gwil Sainsbury left in January 2014. The song features a sample of "4x4" by Miley Cyrus, of her singing "I'm a female rebel". The sample originally came from a remix Thom Green, Alt-J's drummer, made for Miley Cyrus. Joe Newman said "I was playing the guitar and Thom was responding to what I was doing on Ableton and before we knew it, we'd come up with this really interesting structure, and I came up with lyrics for it quite quickly." Gus Unger-Hamilton said "it sounded cool with what Joe was playing on the guitar." The band asked Miley Cyrus if they could use the sample; according to Newman, she was "cool with it".

 

The album features interesting tracks such as the punchy, carnally minded "Every Other Freckle" and the meaty, "Left Hand Free" so thrilling, but hardly unexpected, the crucial Miley Cyrus-sampling on "Hunger of the Pine," the bucolic, recorder-led "Garden of England," and the oddly soulful, midnight-black posturing of "The Gospel of John Hurt," and it gets under your skin, where it somehow manages to both hurt and heal.

 

The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, considered a huge step forward for the band, in terms of musicmanship and creativity, it was nominated for a Grammy Award, and for the Impala as an album of the year. 

 

This Is All Yours Track List: 

 

1. Intro

2. Arrival In Nara

3. Nara

4. Every Other Freckle

5. Left Hand Free

6. ❦ (Garden of England)

7. Choice Kingdom

8. Hunger Of The Pine

9. Warm Foothills

10. The Gospel Of John Hurt

11. Pusher

12. Bloodflood Pt. II

13. Leaving Nara