Alex G | Sour Widows 
Manchester Academy
Saturday 15th November

Erstwhile bedroom troubadour and permanently mercurial craftsman showcases his latest magnum opus to Manchester. Sam Lambeth reviews.

Support act Sour Widows are the perfect accoutrement to Alex G. Hazy, forlorn and emo-tinged guitars roll in, with the dual vocals of Maia Sinaiko and Susanna Thomson coalescing beautifully. The three-piece look thrilled to be supporting one of their peers, but in truth, they more than hold their own with their volatile but brilliant tunes.

There’s been many moments in all our lives that have shocked us. Something we held dear, that we knew to be true, has taken another form. Sydney Sweeney sharing a simpatico with Donald Trump. Celia Imrie letting rip with a ferocious fart on The Traitors. The Red Wedding on Game of Thrones, if you wanna throw it back a bit.

None of these compares to when singer-songwriter Alex G tears into the new song June Guitar at the Manchester Academy on a ruthlessly cold and rainy Saturday night. On his latest album Headlights, June Guitar is rich, calming and soft, as adult alternative as Crowded House covering Joan Armatrading. Live, it’s a totally different beast – jagged, grunge-fuelled guitars pile over merciless drums, the song dropping out and crashing in with verve and menace. It’s enough to make the hairs on your neck stand up – or it would if there was room for that to happen, seeing as the Academy is positively rammed with people dressed like art students.

Surprising, esoteric, diverse, strange – all of this applies to Alex G. Like fellow idiosyncratic crooner Mac DeMarco, Alex has built a formidable career based around his kooky, capricious melodies. His new album Headlights is his first for a major label, and while it ploughs more of a conventional furrow, it still has spades of individuality. The self-doubt of Real Thing hangs on a lovely tin flute and simplistic acoustic arpeggios. Afterlife is rich and surging, buoyed by the kind of uplifting mandolin that would have Peter Buck reaching for his eight-string. Logan Hotel revisits the Beatles-esque jaunt of late-period Elliott Smith, while the minimal but gorgeous Oranges and Headlights are built around sparse, downbeat guitars and pared-down melodies.

It’s all very tasteful and polished, and the G man himself is light on stage banter (the odd “thanks a lot” is said with such a strong American accent it almost sounds like a threat). Those missing the abrasive, dynamic shards of Alex’s older work are rewarded as the show continues. Horse is a smorgasboard of caterwauling and off-kilter noise. Brick is a wall, if you’ll pardon the pun, of dissonant guitars and hip hop-inflected beats, propelled by some distorted, inaudible shouting. Blessing is equally caustic, with menacing riffs matching Alex’s hushed, portentious whisper.

However, that melodic sensibility has always been there. Slightly older offcuts such as Gretel and Runner are reflective and mature, but what could have been straight-laced ballads are instead pulsing with unique, intriguing overtones. Ploughing through over 25 songs, Alex and his commendable backing band have done a fantastic job of bringing the singer-songwriter’s eclectic, restless and richly textured sounds to a live setting.

“I never thought I was the real thing,” Alex sings at one point – 3,000 people in Manchester clearly disagree.

~

Alex G can be found on Facebook and on his website.

All words by Sam Lambeth. Sam is a journalist and musician. More of his work for Louder Than War is available on his archive.

Photos by Elliott Davies. You can find more of his work on his archive and via his Instagram.