alt-J's Left Hand Free An Oddball Song Out In Left Field

Some songs promote the piquing of idle curiosity. You're essentially caught up in how against the grain they are. You know the type, the tunes that march to the beat of a different drum. alt-J's "Left Hand Free" is one such item. The strike against it is it's too cutesy to have much of a shot at being taken as anything other than a hi and bye brush with head scratching fascination. There's some quality guitar strumming to be had. There's endearingly silly vocals going on. There's also a chord loop that sounds content to wrap around itself. At first it's an engaging sound because it's the chord blend that you don't really get tired of. As this song progresses though you wish it elevated its game above one trick pony status. You'll have to resort to picking at the Earthling to alien translation handbook for the following lyrical block: "I tackle weeds just so the moon buggers nibble. Although I likely will never reach the now I've heard everything level of life on this planet, unusual sentiments such as that make me think I've taken a quantum leap towards that position. Of course "Pick a battle eenie meenie miney moe. Hey flower you're the chosen one" is no less decipherable to your average listener. I know the '70s and '80s were the decades know for lines of blow everywhere you went but these lyrics couldn't have been fleshed into being without at least some level of contact high being reached. Are the lyrics enough of a distraction from the low-fi sound of the band itself? Not entirely but every little bit helps as they say. alt-j consists of Joe Newman on guitar/lead vocals, Gus Unger-Hamilton on keyboards/vocals, and Thom Green on drums. They came together in Leeds England in 2007. I'm somewhat shocked to hear England is their home stomping turf because "Left Hand Free" sounds like something Beck would put on an album of B-sides and outtakes. Couldn't hurt to blend in with an American audience by vocalizing in such a way that you'd think U.S. = terra firma. The Brits have placed their fair share of curiosities on these shores. I regret to say that "Left Hand Free" represents the Piglet character in the Hundred Acre Woods world of songcraft. The track is from the trio's "This Is All Yours" album. Hardly any of their effort seems to be all ours which is a integral aspect of why reaching their full artistic potential appears to be miles away from reaching fruition. If you like songs you can pipe up while changing the tires on your flatbed truck then lucky break indeed, but to return to my leadoff point curiosity is the big draw leagues above anything else. alt-J are at the four way stop but lack the courage to thrust themselves head on towards the other side where larger groupings of potential converts might be. "Left Hand Free" should've been composed with both hands pressed firmly on the throttle, ethos itching for a fight. Instead it's allowed to be something along the order of a middle finger, a "We're too artsy to be bothered with giving you anything other than a taste." This effort doesn't deserve a rumbling hand. Au contraire leave your accolades reduced to nothing besides a sarcastic spaced out monotone hand clap.