Alt-J Releases New Single: ‘Hunger of the Pine’

Alt-J released a new single, “Hunger of the Pine,” on Wednesday, which will be included in its upcoming sophomore album, This Is All Yours.

The group has been relatively quiet since 2012 when it released its first album, An Awesome Wave. Their debut album was met with high praise and featured singles like “Tessellate” that were enjoyed radio airtime for months.

The new single comes as somewhat of a departure from alt-J’s previous music, as the group is now a trio after bassist Gwil Sainsbury left. It also features a sample of Miley Cyrus singing “I’m a female rebel” from her song “4×4,” and was composed of spontaneous ideas the group came up with while writing their upcoming album, Keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton told NPR.

“It was written very quickly using some guitar chords and sounds being layered on Ableton, and seemed to signal a bit of a new sound for us. The lyrics mainly suggest the idea that missing someone — pining — can be a physical pain much like hunger,” Unger-Hamilton said.

This Is Yours comes out Sept. 22, but for now, listen to “Hunger of the Pine” above.