The iconic backdrop of California – from the Hollywood hills to its gnarly mountain trails – has always been a particularly evocative source of inspiration when it comes to art, so it’s not all too surprising to learn that Joe Newman, frontman of alt-J, felt so drawn to its confines for his first solo foray. His first venture proper outside of the band since their formation almost 20 years ago now – under the moniker of his former screenname JJerome87 – The Canyon is a bold offering that comes dripping with a sultry California spirit. Opener ‘Mr Alligator’ swaggers to life in a bluesy manner, before ‘Green Velvet’ hazily saunters in, bathed in the kind of enveloping warmth that only Los Angeles could help conjure up. An assembled cast of session musicians and…