This Album Should’ve Changed Alternative Music Forever, but What Happened Instead? From Indie Darlings to the Next Radiohead

Critical acclaim, commercial success, and a landmark in indie pop.

In the early 2010s, pop-adjacent alternative music started to take over the mainstream, with the most prominent case of acts like Coldplay and Imagine Dragons shedding most of their guitar-driven elements to achieve massive commercial heights, becoming the poster children of contemporary rock.On the indie rock spectrum, minimalistic production and influences of folk and electronic music paved the way for the flagship artists of the past decade, with alt-J at the forefront of the movement.The band’s combination of pop culture references, world music inspiration, and unconventional instrumentation shaped them into a unique flavor in mainstream-ready alternative music, influencing most of the 2010s indie pop.

After a groundbreaking debut in 2012, expectations surrounding alt-J’s sophomore effort were high, and the band delivered “This Is All Yours” to critical and commercial acclaim, labeling them this generation’s Radiohead due to their blend of intelligent songwriting, quirky instrumentation, and catchy accessibility.

That being said, the band’s success never took the expected heights, even if it cemented them as influential leaders of modern indie rock. Therefore, to celebrate the album’s 10th anniversary, we look back at what made it so special and how it impacted alt-J’s legacy and mainstream appeal.

An Awesome Debut to Follow

In 2012, alt-J released their debut, “An Awesome Wave”, an incredible success that was certified Platinum in both US and UK, spawning multiple hit singles and shaping alternative culture with its unorthodox sound.

From Joe Newman’s playful lyricism and inventive guitar work to Thom Green’s adventurous percussion, this album was an alt-pop triumph that incorporated several musical styles and ideas into an accessible package full of catchy hooks and beautifully crystalline production by Charlie Andrew and Mark Bishop.

Recipient of the Mercury Prize, “An Awesome Wave,” immediately established comparisons to acts like Radiohead due to its cerebral take on pop music and willingness to experiment and push the boundaries of conventional rock.

While this meant a lot of accolades for alt-J, it also meant that the expectations surrounding its follow-up were extremely high, as the band was now seen as the new face of 2010s indie pop.

This Is A Trio Now

Shortly before alt-J went into the studio to record their sophomore album, multi-instrumentalist Gwil Sainsbury left the fold, leaving the line-up as a 3-piece consisting of Newman, Green, and keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton.

The British band recorded and released their first album as a power trio, “This Is All Yours”, in September 2014, picking where they left off with “An Awesome Wave”.

Stylistically, the album is similar to the band’s debut. It refines the songwriting and increases the band’s ambition, with the incorporation of orchestral elements more frequently.

Electronica and folk are the main influences here, and the result is, again, a diverse set of songs that somehow work together cohesively.

From the uplifting “Left Hand Free” and its playful main guitar riff to the contemplative “Hunger of the Pine” or the throwback to “An Awesome Wave” on the complex “Every Other Freckle,” the singles alone are enough to show you how versatile “This Is All Yours” is.

But the deep cuts aren’t too far behind, with the ambitious scope of the record set immediately on the opener “Intro” and the 3-part “Arrival in Nara”, “Nara”, and “Leaving Nara”, all with their specific voice while keeping a consistent identity.

The Alien-referencing melancholy of “The Gospel of John Hurt” is arguably the album’s highest point with its meticulous build-up, and the secret track “Lovely Day” closes the record by justifying all the comparisons to Radiohead.

Overall, “This Is All Yours” is a great sophomore and a fantastic record that doesn’t take as many risks as alt-J’s debut, instead refining their songwriting formula while upping their orchestral ambition.

Why Didn’t This Conquer the World?

Critical reception to “This Is All Yours” was as enthusiastic as to “An Awesome Wave”, with reviews praising alt-J’s maturity and ambition, while keeping their core identity intact.

The album was nominated for a Grammy, and while it didn’t perform as well commercially as the band’s debut, it still topped the UK charts, reached No. 4 on Billboard, and earned a Gold certification in 5 countries (including UK and US).

With “This Is All Yours”, alt-J also were billed higher in festival line-ups and seemed to have moved past the fears of a sophomore slump, while confirming their status as indie pop’s brightest stars.

Plenty of the record’s singles were licensed in TV shows, high-profile movies, and video games, so their presence in mainstream pop culture was also consistent.

However, we can’t help but notice that sales-wise and just in terms of overall relevance, “This Is All Yours” seemed to make alt-J lose some of the momentum they got with their debut.

It still held quite a few high points for the band, but its more contemplative tone, a higher share of slower songs, and fewer hits (three successful singles vs. six in its predecessor) may have kept the band from being on the same level as other alt-pop behemoths of the era like Coldplay or Mumford and Sons.

Instead, alt-J became the flagship of a movement that included acts like Everything Everything, Klaxons, and other quirky indie pop acts that were not quite alternative, and not quite mainstream enough to be universal.

The Legacy of ‘This Is All Yours’

After “This Is All Yours”, alt-J waited 3 years to release a new album, which also contributed to their mainstream momentum slowing down.

Not only that, but 2017’s “RELAXER” revealed a conscious effort to love away from their original style, experimenting a lot more with folk and electronica.

This resulted in a record that was well received critically but didn’t perform so well commercially (earning only a Silver certification in the UK) due to its more eclectic and less cohesive tone.

Alt-J then waited 5 years more before returning in 2022 with “The Dream”, taking a harsher approach closer to alt-rock, and earning once again critical acclaim, but taking an even more modest turn commercially.

Overall, the British trio has established itself as the frontrunner of alt-pop for the past decade, mixing catchy melodies, unorthodox songwriting and instrumentation, and an ambitious will to experiment with a consistent discography of different styles, but without failures so far.

However, “This Is All Yours”‘s focus on melancholy and vibes made it a less appealing product commercially, which kickstarted a decrease in alt-J’s mainstream relevance, which was accentuated by the long wait for each album and their growingly experimental tone.

After “An Awesome Wave,” the group seemed poised to take Radiohead’s mantle as an act capable of bringing pop, alt-rock, and cerebral music together once more to the delight of the masses.

Instead, they created a consistent discography on their terms, influenced an entire movement of quirky indie pop that shaped the 2010s and are still flagships of alternative culture. While that may not have resulted in mainstream superstardom, it still seems pretty alright by most standards.