Making their debut in the United Kingdom and the U.S this past year, Alt-J is my newest obsession. The English indie-rock quartet unveiled their first album, “An Awesome Wave”, in September of 2012.
The quartet was formed when Joe Newman, Gwil Sainsbury, Thom Green, and Gus Unger-Hamilton met at Leeds University in West Yorkshire, England in 2007. They recorded the album, but waited until 2011 to sign with Infectious Records (Ash, The Subways).
The band’s name, Alt-J, is actually the Greek letter Delta. On the Apple OS X operating system for the Mac computers, typing in “alt-J” will produce the ∆ symbol, hence the band name Alt-J.
“An Awesome Wave” is the band’s first album and I am very much in love with it. Mixing together indie rock with a form of experimental psychedelic folk, the songs are extremely catchy and I find myself swaying my head and humming along throughout the day. While most of the time the lyrics of the songs are not able to be fully understood, the wonderful music still captures your attention.
One of the band’s first singles, “Breezeblocks”, is one of the best songs on the album. The song is based off of Maurice Sendak’s children’s classic, “Where the Wild Things Are,” and will have you hooked after the first play through. Hiding behind the haunting but entrancing vocals of Joe Newman, the song actually tells the story of a man who drowns his wife in the bath tub. While the plot is twisted, the song is beautiful and addicting to the ears.
Another fabulous song on this album is “Matilda”. Based on Natalie Portman’s character of Mathilda in the 1997 English-language French thriller, Léon: The Professional, the song will real you in with its stuttering beats and fragile melody. And while you may not always know exactly what they’re saying, this song will be on repeat for a good amount of time.
Alt-J has started their musical career with a bang. I cannot wait to see what they have in store of us avid listeners next.