English rock band Alt-J, named after the delta symbol that appears when you press the Alt and J keys on a Mac keyboard. Alt-j is an eccentric indie rock band that experiments with rhythm, song structure, percussion instruments.
With the release of An Awesome Wave (2012), the musicians expanded their fan base. They also began to actively experiment with sound in the albums This Is All Yours and Relaxer (2017).
The first team created by the guys in 2008 under the pseudonym FILMS was a quartet. All participants studied at the University of Leeds.
The beginning of the Alt-J group's career
The band spent two years rehearsing before signing with Infectious Records in 2011. The combination of the popular dub-pop genre and light notes of alternative rock sounded in the singles Matilda, Fitzpleasure in 2012.
The full-length album A Awesome Wave (the band's debut) was released at the end of the same year. The album eventually received the prestigious Mercury Award as well as three Brit Award nominations. The band headlined festivals in the UK and Europe, and expanded their tour of the US and Australia.
The band's success and busy touring schedule led to the departure of bassist Gwil Sainsbury at the end of 2013. The guys parted amicably.
First Alt-J awards
The trio of Joe Newman, Gus Unger-Hamilton and Tom Green remained on the wave of success. Their second album This Is All Yours was released in autumn 2014.
This work was well received by critics. This Is All Yours reached #1 in the UK. She also showed good results in Europe, the USA, where she received her first Grammy nomination.
Relaxer - third studio work
In early 2017, the band released the singles 3WW, In Cold Blood and Adeline ahead of the release of their third LP, Relaxer.
The album was not as successful as its predecessor. It sold well and received a second Mercury Prize nomination.
In 2018, the musicians released a remix album Reduxer. There were presented tracks from Relaxer, reworked with hip-hop artists. Also including Danny Brown, Little Simz and Pusha T.
The name and symbols of the group
The symbol of the group is the Greek letter Δ (delta), which is used in technical fields to indicate changes, differences. Usage is based on the keystroke sequence used on the Apple Mac: Alt + J.
In later versions of macOS, including Mojave, the key sequence generates the Unicode character U+2206 INCREMENT. It is commonly used to denote the Laplacian.
The album cover for An Awesome Wave shows a top view of the largest river delta in the world, the Ganges.
The alt-J group was formerly known as Daljit Dhaliwal. And then - Films, but later switched to alt-J, because the American group Films already existed.
It is correct to write the name of the group with a lowercase letter, and not with a capital letter. Because this is the kind of stylized version of the name.
Alt-J in popular culture
- The band performed the song "Buffalo" with Mountain Man for the film My Boyfriend Is a Crazy (2011).
- In 2013, the band announced they had created the soundtrack for the Toby Jones film Leave to Remain.
- Left Hand Free appeared during the film Captain America: Civil War (2016).
- The song by Fitzpleasure is used in the official trailer for the video game Battleborn.
- Hunger of the Pine was used to start and end the first season of the television series Unreal.
- Fitzpleasure was also used as the soundtrack for the movie Sisters (2015).
- Every Other Freckle was on Netflix's Lovefick in the first season of Cressida.
- In 2015, Something Good was in the second episode of the computer game Life is Strange.
- In 2018, Tessellate and In Cold Blood are the opening and ending of the Ingress anime. It is based on the AR game made for Niantic: Ingress.
Analysis and style of texts
The band is often praised for their postmodern lyricism in their lyrics. They feature historical events and pop culture items.
Taro is written in reference to Gerda Taro, her role as a war photographer. As well as her relationship with Robert Capa. The song describes the details of Capa's death and shows Taro's emotions. The visuals in the music video are taken from Godfrey Reggio's experimental film Powaqqatsi.
The song Matilda is a reference to Natalie Portman's character in the movie Leon: Hitman.
Another pop culture track is Fitzpleasure. This is a retelling of the short story by Hubert Selby Jr. Tralala, published in Last Exit to Brooklyn. It is about the prostitute Tralala, who dies after being raped.
Awards and nominations
In 2012, Alt-J's debut album won the UK Mercury Prize. The group has also been nominated for three Brit Awards. These are "British Breakthrough", "British Album of the Year" and "British Band of the Year".
An Awesome Wave was voted BBC Radio 6's Best Music Album of 2012. Three tracks from this album entered the Australian Triple J Hottest 100 of 2012. These are Something Good (81st position), Tessellate (64th position) and Breezeblocks (3rd position). In 2013, An Awesome Wave won Album of the Year at the Ivor Novello Awards.
This Is All Yours won a Grammy Award for "Best Alternative Music Album" at the Grammy Awards. It also won the European Independent Album of the Year award from IMPALA.
The Alt-J Collective Today
On February 8, 2022, the premiere of the band's new single took place. The track was called The Actor. Note that the composition is also presented in video format.
Recall that the guys announced the release of a full-length LP on February 11 via Infectious Music/BMG. At the end of the last month of spring, the band will go on tour in support of the LP in the UK and Ireland.
The release of the full-length LP The Dream took place on February 11, 2022. According to the artists, the collection turned out to be, we quote: “dramatic”.
“Throughout life, we face different torments. They accumulate, and you start writing about them, ideas are born that correspond to these emotions, ”said frontman Joe Newman.
The piece of music Get Better was written about the passing of a partner and "the real horrors of what covid can do", while the song Losing My Mind was inspired by a traumatic experience Newman had as a teenager.
