Released: March 15
Californian duo Aly & AJ immerse themselves into a new world of indie folk and alt rock on their latest album ‘With Love From’.
If the pair tested the waters for a new sound on the 2021 LP ‘A Touch of the Beat Gets You Up on Your Feet Gets You Out and Then Into the Sun’ then they dive into the genre this time around, creating a world of guitars and drums that places them front and centre as singers and songwriters.
Gone is the electro pop of their best-loved hits like Potential Breakup Song and the more recent Joan of Arc on the Dance Floor, with the lead single and title track from the record introducing the sound of the era, with a more organic instrumentation and undeniably catchy hooks.
It’s a reinvention not dissimilar to Taylor Swift’s transition from ‘Lover’ to ‘folklore’ and one that appeals to the singer-songwriter space in the charts today, sitting alongside more introspective bodies of work from artists like Carly Rae Jepsen, who have introduced new soundscapes to their usual pop palette.
Open to Something and That Something Is You launches the album, with country influences and lush harmonies from the sibling duo, which run throughout cuts like pre-release single Baby Lay Your Head Down and the tender Blue Dress.
Across 11 tracks they explore an array of genres, with Tear the Night Up offering a full band, pop rock direction, while old habits die hard on the synth-laden Talking in My Sleep, which nods to the former Aly & AJ while updating their sound and introducing a fresh soundscape that stands out as a highlight from the collection.
On paper it’s a new direction that’ll undoubtedly divide fans of the duo, who have spent almost two decades satisfying their most loyal followers with straight pop anthems, but come closing number 6 Months of Starting Into the Sun, they succeed in crafting a body of work that not only stands out as their most polished and realised collection to date, but one that showcases their skillset as writers and vocalists.
Aly & AJ may always be one of pop’s most underrated duos, but if ever there was an album to relaunch them back into the spotlight as independent artists, this is it.
‘With Love From’ is available now.
