Album Review: ALASKALASKA - 'The Dots'
‘The Dots’ is the perfect name for ALASKALASKA’s eclectic debut album as it’s littered with a myriad of influences. Talking about the current state of the world and the paranoia it gives you, ‘Happyface’ and ‘Bees’ are incredibly experimental with hints of the underground electronica style of Bjork, mixed with a bit of neo-soul.‘Moon’ is an intoxicating combination of saxophone, synths and existential dread – “with all the space in space, I feel misplaced… am I someone?”. ’Tough Love’ jolts the listener back to sobriety with its unexpected grungier notes. While there is a lot of high-quality layering of sounds on ‘The Dots’, there are a few moments of acoustic respite with ‘Sweat’ which sounds like it was recorded on the floor in the middle of a corridor and ‘Monster’ with its melancholic drawling about being made the bad person in an unfair situation. Expect dreamy shoegaze tones from ‘Heaven’ which is a distinct contrast to the autotuned moments of ‘Skin’.
ALASKALASKA have produced a body of work that could have been pulled from various different albums but have crafted it so that it doesn’t ever feel misplaced.
Words: Tyler Damara Kelly.