Party Gator Purgatory emerged from a failed mockumentary commissioned by Louis Theroux’s production company in 2020 in which James Acaster had planned to formally renounce being a stand-up in favour of fulfilling his musical aspirations. The film was to open with Acaster, a drummer in bands before his comedy career took off, retrieving his childhood drum kit from his family home along with a treasured stuffed alligator toy who has miraculously survived several assassination attempts by parents, girlfriends and flatmates.

From there, he’d be on his merry way to becoming a bona-fide musician. But covid butchered those plans, leaving Acaster with numerous drum tracks and no place to put them. Thus Party Gator Purgatory, a highly experimental album loosely narrating the journey of Acaster’s childhood toy and featuring 40 international musicians, was born.

Opening track ‘lookaliveandplaydead’ is a harmonious blend of synths, booming drums and hints of gospel, not dissimilar to elements of Young Fathers’ recent work. This only increases the sonic whiplash felt when second track ‘kept’ begins, first with its Daft Punk-esque stacked auto-tuned vocals, then a free-jazz drum solo (think Kendrick Lamar’s ‘For Free’) providing the song’s instrumentation. If you’re already thinking ‘sounds like a lot’, brace yourself. This is but the first ten minutes of Party Gator Purgatory’s sonic safari, so if you fear the wild and untameable, board with serious caution.

Filled with unexpected breakdowns, leftfield transitions and complete disregard for traditional song structure, this album oozes a freewheeling DIY spirit. Its patchwork of ideas and sounds mismatch and contradict each other constantly, challenging the listener while also extending an olive branch every now and then with clear nods to alternative jazz, hip hop and alt.rock. 

Lyrics oscillate between spontaneous spoken-word and repetitive hooks, always decorated with elaborate production. Juicy grooves come up in ‘partygatorR.I.P.’ and aptly return in ‘partygatorresurrection’, while stand-out contributions from rapper-producer Quelle Chris and singer-songwriter NNAMDÏ make tracks such as ‘bleedthemtoxins’ and ‘no,no’ (also notably featuring Xenia Rubinos) particularly strong. Despite being spearheaded by a TV comic with a loyal following, this bold collective project does not grasp at mass appeal. Instead, James Acaster shamelessly leans into creativity, collaboration and chaos in an earnest attempt to feed his music-loving inner child.

Party Gator Purgatory is released by Bella Union on Friday 19 May.