Alt-J
[#] An Awesome Wave (2012)
Not as awesome as the wave.
Reviewed August 24, 2026
Ever popular out of the gate, I award no points to either side of the Alt-J debate. Sample positive review: "Each song flits between genres with the rapidity with which one would imagine Alt-J completed their algebra homework." Sample negative review: "They dangle the carrot, only for you to reach out and grab it, triggering a booby-trapped cage to fall and make stasis your sentence." You all suck at writing reviews. I like some Alt-J, and I'd peg Alt-J as a childhood classic for how inescapable "Breezeblocks" was online as a preteen, but it's actually taken me until now to explore the tendrils on An Awesome Wave's cover. It's alright, really. Their occasionally dramatic folktronica is unfortunately let down by a saggy middle third, but that doesn't mean they can't be similarly arresting.
For all the talk of Alt-J's oddball innovation, they're really not all that odd. They are recognizable, their vocals nasal, harmonies folky, their lyrics preoccupied with sex and murder and being eaten, guitars fingerpicked, and percussion stripped-back and boxy. There's an undynamic, surprisingly detached nature to An Awesome Wave that often leads it to being one-dimensional, as the stretch between "Something Good" and "Ms" falls into: perfectly pleasant, moody folk-pop with emphasis on the beats that's over as soon as it's off. It's when they infuse a bit of danger and immediacy into their sound that Alt-J grabs you by the throat. "Fitzpleasure"'s bass and spy guitar roars like a car engine, "Breezeblocks" is as fittingly breezy as it is quite violent, and "Tessellate" is singular proof that, given better songs, Alt-J's mating dance of blips and jams on "Faust Arp" can coalesce into something intoxicating.
| Essential: | "Tessellate", "Breezeblocks", "Fitzpleasure" |
|---|---|
| Quintessential: | "Taro" |
| Non-Essential: | "Ms" (and those shitass interludes) |
| Rating: |  |