alt-J was formed when Gwil Sainsbury (guitarist/bassist), Joe Newman (guitar/vocals), Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards) and Thom Green (drums) met in 2007 at the University of Leeds. After graduating they moved to Cambridge after which they recorded their debut album in Brixton. Gus studied English Literature, the other three Fine Arts.
In their second year of college, Joe showed Gwil some of his own songs that were inspired by his father's guitar playing and hallucinogens. The pair began recording in their bedroom with Gwil acting as producer on the GarageBand computer program. The band rehearsed for two years before striking a deal with "Infectious Records" in 2011.
The symbol "Δ" in this case is not pronounced as "delta", but as "alt-J". On the keyboard of an Apple computer, this is the key combination to generate the Greek letter delta (Δ). Gwil Sainsbury noted, "In mathematical equations, the sign is used to denote changes in physical quantities". The band came to this new name because of the turning point/changes in their lives.
Their eponymous first 4-track EP "Δ" was recorded with producer Charlie Andrew in London and contains the songs Breezeblocks, Hand-Made, Matilda and tessellate. A single on vinyl featuring Bloodflood and Tessellate was released by music magazine "Loud And Quiet" in October 2011.
The first release for "Infectious Records" was on May 25, 2012 with a triangular shaped gramophone record featuring Matilda and Fitzpleasure followed by Breezeblocks as an advance to their first album "An Awesome Wave". With this the group signs for a mix of folk and alternative rock that can somewhat be compared to Hot Chip, Wild Beasts and Everything Everything.
The debut album 'An Awesome Wave' is a bit more complicated and contains multiple music genres and expressions such as folk, drumming bass, infectious pop, hip-hop beats, trip-hop vibes, indie rock, heavy electronic riffs, all intertwined with heartbreakingly intimate lyrics, laced with cinematic and literary references to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Luc Besson's Leon: The Professional (Matilda and archive track Léon) and Maurice Sendaks Max and the Maximonsters.
alt-J supported the Wild Beasts in April 2012 and began touring in the UK and Ireland. It started on May 24, 2012 at The Academy in Dublin and ended on June 1. The band played at a large number of festivals in the summer of 2012, including in Great Britain: Latitude, Tramlines, Bestival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, End Of The Road, Milhões de Festa, T in the Park and Green Man. In Belgium Pukkelpop and Rock Werchter and in the Netherlands Lowlands and the Best Kept Secret Festival in Hilvarenbeek.
