An Awesome Wave Alt-J Artist

Named after the Mac command also used as a mathematical equation to show change, formed while studying fine art at university, and prone to throwing in the odd geometric reference within their lyrics, there are signs that Cambridge-based quartet {|Al... Read more

Named after the Mac command also used as a mathematical equation to show change, formed while studying fine art at university, and prone to throwing in the odd geometric reference within their lyrics, there are signs that Cambridge-based quartet {|Alt-J|} might be a little bit too clever for their own good. Produced by {|Charlie Andrew|} ({|the Laurel Collective|}), their debut album, {|An Awesome Wave|}, is occasionally guilty of pretentiousness, particularly the irritating a cappella vocal warmup of the interlude (The Ripe & Ruin). But for the most part, its 13 tracks do for nu-folk what {|Everything Everything|}'s equally ambitious debut did for indie rock, breathing new life into the genre with an intriguing but accessible series of art rock twists and turns. Indeed, other than frontman {|Joe Newman|}'s impassioned -- if occasionally bordering on parody -- vocal style, there's little here in common with the tweeness of {|Mumford & Sons|}. Tessellate combines the glitchy electronica of {|Thom Yorke|}'s solo career with the wistful wintry harmonies of {|Fleet Foxes|}; Fitzpleasure fizzes along with its dubstep-lite beats and acidic basslines before it's interrupted, first by a burst of jangly post-rock and second by the kind of shimmering guitar twangs you'd expect from a {|Tarantino|} soundtrack; while Taro somehow melds together the unlikely bedfellows of Americana and bhangra to produce a fittingly oddball but enthralling finale. It's to {|Andrew|}'s credit that these eclectic arrays of sound are woven together in a manner so effortlessly that the results never feel forced or contrived. There are a few more straightforward moments such as Matilda, a gentle acoustic folk ode to {|Natalie Portman|}'s troubled character in Leon, and the sparse, haunting Ms. But {|Alt-J|}'s wave is far more awesome when it's at its most schizophrenic. ~ Jon O'Brien Less