Alex G - Headlights

Ten albums in, you might imagine that most artists would have run out of steam a little bit when it comes to creating something that still feels fresh and new. Never Alex G, though. With ‘Headlights’, he proves exactly why he inspires such a fervent response around each release still. It’s mystical and hopeful, innovative and constantly surprising, and above all else, a testament to the unique talent of Alex G.

Though in a lot of ways a continuation down the path he first traversed on ‘God Save The Animals’, ‘Headlights’ feels infinitely more expansive and open. It crafts a vastly spanning sonic world to relinquish yourself to. Larger in scale it may be, but it never loses the raw intimacy that has always made an Alex G track so special - it’s in the warmth of the strings on tracks like ‘Far and Wide’, the steady unfurling of ‘Real Thing’. It’s characteristically off-kilter, throwing new elements the listener’s way around every corner, with the mandolin on ‘Afterlife’ being a particularly bright aspect.

There’s an ethereality to the album that is irresistible - ‘Beam Me Up’ is, aptly, otherworldly. It’s an album whose world you want to exist in for a few songs, to dive deep and uncover layer after layer of intricacies and sounds. In the throes of ‘Headlights’, everything else seems to pause for a moment. Sweet but never saccharine, unusual but never jarring, it perfectly balances intrigue and comfort so that you can’t help but want to sit for a while in this world of Alex G’s creation.