Been seeing a lot of hype from friends about this project outta Austin, TX, alexalone, who recently signed to Polyvinyl for their new album ALEXALONEWORLD. The hype is warranted. Lead by Alex Peterson (who also plays/played in Lomelda and Hovvdy live bands), alexalone switches between slowcore rumbles to full on head-pounding sheets of rock noise on most songs, providing a great palette of instrumental and timbre variety. No homogenous indie rock here folks – thank god. I think we all need a break from that. 

The song I’ve been coming back to again and again on ALEXALONEWORLD is “Unpacking My Feelings”, maybe the best and most succinct example on the album of the band’s skill to pivot between loud and quiet moments. The last minute or so of the track are some of the noisiest I’ve heard all year (disclaimer – I haven’t listened to much noise rock this year, because I don’t need any more stress in my life) but damn it goes hard. Seems like the perfect song to go crazy for live. “Can’t Sleep” is another favorite and “Let It Go” has a guitar texture that reminds me of a Rush song (this is a compliment), but in all seriousness I keep returning to this album and finding new favorite moments to crush my skull to. In my opinion this is the best record Polyvinyl has put out in some time. Shout out to alexalone and all the homies from TX.

ALEXALONEWORLD is out NOW via Polyvinyl. Buy it HERE.