Alt-J (stylised as alt-J, real name Δ)[5][6][7] are an English indie rock band formed in 2007 in Leeds. Their lineup includes Joe Newman (guitar/lead vocals), Thom Sonny Green (drums), Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards/vocals), and formerly Gwil Sainsbury (guitar/bass).
Their debut album An Awesome Wave was released in May 2012 in Europe, and in September 2012 in the United States, and won the 2012 British Mercury Prize.[8] Sainsbury left the band in early 2014. Their second album, This Is All Yours, was released on 22 September 2014 and went straight to number one in the United Kingdom.[9] In February 2022 the band released their fourth studio album The Dream.[10]
Name
The band's actual name is the triangle-shaped symbol Δ (the capital Greek letter delta).[5][6] The band often makes references to triangles[11][12] (for example, the song "Tesselate" mentions "triangles are my favourite shape",[13] and they make triangle symbols with their fingers during concerts[14]), which they say is just due to it being a visually appealing shape.[13]
"Alt-J" comes from the key sequence used to generate the symbol Δ on an Apple Mac computer: Alt+J.[6]
Alt-J were previously known as "Daljit Dhaliwal" and then "Films",[15][16] but were later forced to change to "alt-J" because an American band called "The Films" already existed.[17]
History
2007–2010: Formation and early years
alt-J (∆) were formed when Gwilym (Gwil) Sainsbury (guitar/bass), Joe Newman (guitar/lead vocals), Augustus (Gus) Unger-Hamilton[18] (keyboards/vocals) and Thomas Stuart (Thom Sonny) Green[18] (drums) met at University of Leeds in 2007.[19] Unger-Hamilton (younger brother of Ferdy, head of A&R for Polydor Records) studied English, the other three Fine Art. According to Newman, "I basically went to art school to start a band."[20]
In their second year of studies, Newman showed Sainsbury some of his own songs and the pair began recording on GarageBand in their hall rooms with Sainsbury acting as producer.[21] The band's sound arose from living in student halls, where noise had to be kept to a minimum, so that they were unable to use bass guitars or bass drums.[citation needed][20]
2011–2012: An Awesome Wave and touring
Joe Newman with alt-J at The Empty Bottle, Chicago, in October 2012
After graduating, the band moved to Cambridge where they spent several months working on their music before signing a deal with Infectious Music in December 2011.[21][22] Their self-titled 4-track demo EP, ∆, was recorded with producer Charlie Andrew in London and featured the tracks "Breezeblocks", "Hand-Made", "Matilda", and "Tessellate".[23] A 7" single containing "Bloodflood" and "Tessellate" was released by Loud and Quiet in October 2011.[24] Their first 2012 release for Infectious Music was the triangle-shaped 10" "Matilda"/"Fitzpleasure".[25] It was followed by "Breezeblocks" which preceded their first album.[26]An Awesome Wave was also produced by Charlie Andrew and compiled at Iguana Studios, Brixton, where the band recorded tracks during the studio's spare time.[27] Their debut album was released on 28 May 2012 in the UK, Europe, and Australia, and on 18 September 2012 in North America via Canvasback Music.[28] The album received some favourable reviews and was described as a "captivating blend of insatiable grooves and profound poignancy".[29] It received a score of 4.8/10 on Pitchfork.[30]
alt-J supported Wild Beasts in April 2012 and played a minor headlining tour around the United Kingdom and Ireland in October of that year.[31] The band have featured regularly on summer festivals, including Latitude, Bestival, Reading and Leeds, T in the Park, Green Man, Pukkelpop, and Lowlands.[29] They also did concert tour in the United States in December 2012 and performed at the Laneway Festival tour in Australia.[32][33] In November 2012 the band were announced as the winners of the Mercury Prize for their album.[34] Besides the prize-money, the band saw an increase in their profile resulting in An Awesome Wave reaching 13 in the UK album chart.[9] The band would later describe the event as "life-changing, there was a sense of [being] imposters, that the band had somehow got this far without not being a real band, we're just guys from Leeds who muddled through it and magicked a Mercury award".[35]
2013–2016: Departure of Sainsbury and This Is All Yours
On 11 January 2014, the band announced that Sainsbury had decided to leave the group, and that they remained friends.[36] In early June 2014, alt-J announced a 2014 tour to take place in North America over October and November.[37] The 23-day tour started in Vancouver, B.C., on 14 October and ended in Washington, D.C., on 19 November.[38] On 9 June 2014, they announced their second album This Is All Yours, that was released on 22 September 2014. This Is All Yours went straight to Number 1 on the UK's Official Albums Chart.[39] It received a score of 4.0/10 from Pitchfork.[40] alt-J headlined the September 2015 edition of Boston Calling Music Festival.[41][42] As a replacement for Sainsbury, Cameron Knight became a supporting member for alt-J's live shows.
On 3 March 2017 alt-J began teasing their third studio album on their social media accounts with an audio clip captioned "00110011 01110111 01110111" (Binary code for "3ww").[43]Stereogum reported later that day that the band's third album would be titled Relaxer and was scheduled for release on 2 June 2017.[44] On 6 March 2017 alt-J released "3WW", which features lead singer Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice, as a digital single and announced dates for the Relaxer Tour in support of the album. Three weeks later, on 29 March, they released "In Cold Blood", the second single from Relaxer.[45] In anticipation of their third album, the band released an online video game,[46] whose soundtrack was their single "3WW,"[47] as well as announcing in May 2017 that they would be playing a five-date UK tour at seaside venues, starting on 4 September 2017.[48][49]
On 24 May 2017 alt-J released "Adeline", the third single from Relaxer.[50] The album was released shortly afterwards, on 2 June 2017. "Deadcrush", the fourth single from the album, was released on 12 July and was featured as a soundtrack in the FIFA 18 game.[51][52] Fifth single "Pleader" arrived on 15 September 2017. Several tracks from Relaxer have since been remixed by a diverse array of artists.
On 28 September 2018 an alternative version of Relaxer was released. The album, titled Reduxer, is a "rap heavy do-over" of the previous year's record.[54]
Since 2021: The Dream
On 16 September 2021, the band announced their first single since 2018, titled "U&ME", would be released 22 September 2021.[55] The single's release coincided with the announcement of their fourth album, The Dream, which was released 11 February 2022.[56]
In December 2023, an instrumental version of their song "Adeline" was featured in the trailer for the Netflix film "Society of the Snow".[64]
Lyrics
Alt-J has been noted for their post-modernlyrics in their songs that highlight historic events and pop-culture subjects.[65] The song "Taro" is written in reference to Gerda Taro and her role as a war photographer during the Spanish Civil War as well as her relationship to Robert Capa. The song describes the details of Capa's death ("A violent wrench grips mass / Rips light, tears limbs like rags") and imagines Taro's complementary emotions. The visuals in a fan made music video by YouTube user David Dean Burkhart are taken from Godfrey Reggio's experimental film Powaqqatsi.
"Matilda" is a reference to Natalie Portman's character in the film Léon: The Professional.[66] "Fitzpleasure" is the retelling of Hubert Selby Jr.'s short story "Tralala", published in Last Exit to Brooklyn. The story follows a prostitute named Tralala who dies after being gang-raped and raped with a broom, as in the lyrics "dead in the middle / of a c-o-double-m-o-n" and "in your snatch fits pleasure / broom shaped pleasure."
^ abJohnston, Abby (14 March 2013). "Alt-J's Awesome SXSW Wave". Austinchronicle.com. Retrieved 24 June 2020. Really, the triangle is just visually quite nice. We referenced it in the song "Tesselate" as a favorite shape, but it really doesn't mean a lot to us. It just looks really cool. That's why we use it.
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