Release Date: September 18, 2012
The UK’s Alt-J (∆) has been making its mark this year, playing Leeds Festival 2012 and receiving the Mercury Reward, and all before the release of its first album.
The early praise was answered when the debut, An Awesome Wave, came out on September 18. That answer was an album with electronic folk overtones, and a pseudo-pop sensibility covered in a calm atmospheric glow. However, to call the album folk/pop or trip/folk (or whatever other comparison one can draw) does the debut little justice.
Alt-J (∆) is a collage of rich harmonies, patient drumming and emotional melodies that are brought out with a range of different instruments beyond their guitar, bass, keyboard setup.
An Awesome Wave opens with “Intro,” which is more a full song than a simple introduction. It has a smooth, groovy, electronica feel, with low-frequency effects on the vocals and odd samples (akin to Massive Attack) that don’t come back for the rest of the album. What sticks around is a serene groove that doesn’t subside despite the range of style in each track.
The a-Capella interlude “Ripe and Ruin,” sounds like an oddly paced hymn and leads seamlessly into the third track, “Tessellate,” which was also released as a single from the album. Front man Joe Newman’s graceful and distinctive vocals carry the album along, and the calmly moving “Tessellate” is a great example of that. At moments the song suspends, hanging and waiting for Newman to subtly sing, “Let’s tessellate,” before slipping back in. The song also keeps with the geometric motif that Alt-J (∆) seems to follow. The band is named after the keyboard command for a Mac computer that produces the Delta symbol, but the shape itself fits with the polygonal theme.
The fourth track, “Breezeblocks”, is an anthem that wanes from a driving rhythm to a subdued verse, while maintaining. Despite lyrics that playfully threaten a lover with cannibalism (“Please don’t go, I’ll eat you whole”), the song has a lively, youthful feel. A toy piano makes a quick appearance and Newman’s swelling vocals make reference to Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are” (“Do you know, where the wild things go?”). It’s enjoyably childish, and Breezeblocks is a definite highlight off An Awesome Wave.
The latter half of the album is at times eclipsed by the strong start, but “Fitzpleasure,” brings the excitement back with thick, fuzzy synth sections and Newman projects his voice beyond the albums normally soft vocals. At times, “Fitzpleasure” is reminiscent of Radiohead (the whole album has those moments), but the style pivots and changes before one can ever put a finger on what the track is becoming.
As a debut album, An Awesome Wave is beautiful and cohesive. Alt-J (∆) is scheduled to tour the US this fall and it wouldn’t be surprising if the band caught on with fans of Fleet Foxes, Radiohead, Elbow, or the like. The recognition Alt-J (∆) earned is more than warranted by An Awesome Wave, and the band is carving out new ground in a guitar-ladden world where many musicians dry up.
Alt-J(∆) – An Awesome Wave tracklist:
- “Intro”
- “(Ripe & Ruin)”
- “Tessellate”
- “Breezeblocks”
- “(Guitar)”
- “Something Good”
- “Dissolve Me”
- “Matilda”
- “Ms”
- “Fitzpleasure”
- “(Piano)”
- “Bloodflood”
- “Taro”
