''An Awesome Wave'' is the debut album by English

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

Alt-J Alt-J (stylised as alt-J, real name Δ) 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 ...

, released on 25 May 2012 through

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. The album includes the singles "

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"/" Fitzpleasure", " Breezeblocks" and "

Tessellate A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of ...

". It peaked at number thirteen on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, and also charted in Belgium, France, Netherlands and Switzerland. ''An Awesome Wave'' won the 2012 British

Barclaycard Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the United Kingdom or Ireland. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with ...

, and in 2013 was named Album of the Year at the

Ivor Novello Awards The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

. The title is a reference to a quote from the 1991

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novel ''

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'' and the 2000 film of the same name.

Artwork

The album artwork for ''An Awesome Wave'' is a multi-layered radar image of the Ganges river delta in

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and

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. The image in each of the three layers was acquired by the

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, taken separately on the 20th of January, 24 February and the 31st of March 2009. The overlaid image, titled ''Ganges' Dazzling Delta'', exposes a multitude of colours arising from the variations in background radiation occurring between the three acquisition times.

Critical reception

''An Awesome Wave'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

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score of 71, based on 20 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Jenny Stevens of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' felt that "the charm of Alt-J's musical scatterbrain is that it works", describing the album as "on the surface... smart alt-pop" while noting that the band "have messed with the formula just enough to make this a brilliantly disquieting debut" and that "in refusing to submit to the rigours of a genre, they might just have made themselves masters of their own." Andy Baber of

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praised the band's ability to mix different musical styles and instruments on the album without coming off as forced or over-complicated. Similarly,

BBC Music BBC Music is the arm of the BBC responsible for the music played across its services. The current director of music is Lorna Clarke. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio operational division; however, its remit also includes music used i ...

's Jen Long wrote that ''An Awesome Wave'' "spans every workable idea, genre, and influence that can be crammed under the guitar music umbrella, yet it never feels disorientating" and called it an "entirely comprehendible and accessible collection of beautiful pop songs." Ruth Singleton of '' Drowned in Sound'' described ''An Awesome Wave'' as "a beautifully rounded, awesome debut album" and said that "whatever Alt-J were aiming for with their debut album, they have managed to prove their value as talented musicians, literary enthusiasts and imagery aficionados." Joe Zadeh of '' Clash'' praised the band as "young, yet somehow void of naivety." Jon O'Brien of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

felt that the album was "occasionally guilty of pretentiousness", but that its "eclectic arrays of sound are woven together in a manner so effortlessly that the results never feel forced or contrived." In a more negative assessment, ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...

'' felt that the band "aim for 'cryptic experimental pop' but hit 'pompous whimsy'" and that "the whole album is uncertain and unconvincing". Laura Snapes of ''

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'' referred to the songs as "draining, elongated MOR tunes".

Commercial performance

''An Awesome Wave'' entered the

at number nineteen on sales of 6,720 copies. After winning the

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

, the album reached a new peak position of number thirteen, selling 13,527 copies. On 2 August 2013, the album was certified platinum by the

British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...

(BPI), denoting shipments in excess of 300,000 units in the UK. In Canada, the album debuted at number thirty on the

Canadian Albums Chart The ''Billboard'' Canadian Albums is the official record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given ...

, selling 1,800 copies. ''An Awesome Wave'' first charted in America on 6 October 2012, initially entering at #134. On 4 May 2013, seven months later, ''An Awesome Wave'' achieved its peak position of #80.

Track listing

On CD, "Hand-Made" is on the same track as "Taro", separated by several minutes of silence. It is not on the vinyl, however is included as a hidden track within "Taro" when downloaded with the included download code.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''An Awesome Wave''. *

Charlie Andrew Charles Andrew is a British record producer, mixer and songwriter. He is best known for his work with indie band Alt-J. In 2013 he was awarded 'Breakthrough Producer of the Year' by his peers at Music Producers Guild awards, in 2016 he won th ...

– production *

Dick Beetham Dick, Dicks, or Dick's may refer to: Media * ''Dicks'' (album), a 2004 album by Fila Brazillia * Dicks (band), a musical group * ''Dick'' (film), a 1999 American comedy film * "Dick" (song), a 2019 song by Starboi3 featuring Doja Cat * '' D ...

– mastering * Mark Bishop – production ("Hand-Made") *

– cover photo provider * Rachael Lander – cello ("Taro") * Kirsty Mangan – string arrangements (all tracks); violin ("Tessellate", "Taro") * St Ronan's Chamber Choir – additional vocals ("Bloodflood", "Taro")

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Awesome Wave 2012 debut albums Albums produced by Charlie Andrew Alt-J albums Atlantic Records albums Infectious Music albums Mercury Prize–winning albums