Alt-J Concerts Setlist

Back in 2007, four art students at Leeds University started making music quietly in their dorm rooms - they had to keep it down because of thin walls. Joe Newman showed some songs to Gwil Sainsbury, and they started recording on GarageBand with whatever they had: a basic drum kit, cheap keyboard, and acoustic guitar. They called themselves Daljit Dhaliwal, then Films, before landing on that triangle symbol (Δ) - typed as Alt-J on Mac keyboards. The name stuck, even though they say they just liked how triangles look. Pretty fitting that their first album cover showed the world's biggest river delta.

Their debut "An Awesome Wave" hit different - mixing folk harmonies with electronic beats and unconventional song structures. No cymbals in the drum kit, just a saucepan for hi-hat sounds. That creativity paid off when they won the Mercury Prize in 2012. The guys felt like imposters, just some lads from Leeds who somehow fooled everyone. Things shifted when Gwil left in 2014, but they kept pushing forward. "This Is All Yours" went straight to number one in the UK. They've since dropped "Relaxer" and "The Dream", each time evolving their sound while keeping that weird Alt-J DNA intact.

Their music has appeared most everywhere — in Marvel films, Netflix shows. “Breezeblocks” and “Left Hand Free” both picked up life via disparate soundtracks, demonstrating how their peculiar sound can land almost anywhere. From those whispered late-night dorm sessions to playing in arenas and festivals, Alt-J shows sometimes the most bizarre concepts create the best music.