Alt-J has won the UK’s prestigious Mercury Prize for their debut album An Awesome Wave. The annual music prize is awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland. Past winners include PJ Harvey, Portishead, Pulp, Arctic Monkeys, and The xx. This year’s nominees included albums from Michael Kiwanuka, Ben Howard, Jessie Ware, and The Maccabees.
An Awesome Wave was recently released on September 18th in the United States. The album was previously released in the UK to much acclaim, with BBC Music calling it “strong, addictive and enthralling, the perfect accompaniment to any mood, any moment, anywhere,” The Guardian calling them, “the most successful new British band of the year,” and The New York Times said the band’s music “is a handsome alloy of dry acoustic timbre and reverberant effect, suggesting a very British convergence of texture-minded electronic music and psychedelic folk.”
The band are also preparing for a short west coast tour this December, including dates in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, and Seattle. For the full itinerary, please see below.
TUE 12/11 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA @ Bottom of The Hill (SOLD OUT)
WED 12/12 – LOS ANGELES, CA @ Fonda Theater
THU 12/13 – SAN DIEGO, CA @ Casbah
SAT 12/15 – PORTLAND, OR @ Star Theater
SUN 12/16 – KANSAS CITY, KS @ Midland Theater w/ Passion Pit
MON 12/17 – SEATTLE, WA @ The Crocodile (SOLD OUT)