The prestigious Mercury Prize was won in 2012 by Alt-J, a young university band from Leeds. Their debut album An Awesome Wave was chosen by the British and Irish jury of experts over records from , and . The music press was also quite clear on the other side of the North Sea: An Awesome Wave ended up in almost every year-end list. For the quartet it must have been a particularly exciting year with
… all sold-out shows and high charts at home and abroad. All sorts of British folk and rock bands from the past provided inspiration, but Alt-J certainly had its own sound; catchy, attractive and sensitive. The pinched soul voice of singer Joe Newman made the band even more striking. The excellent song material did the rest. The titles of Breezeblocks, Tessellate and Fitzpleasure sounded deliberately obscure, but the songs themselves grew into audience favorites. An Awesome Wave was thus the most promising rock debut of 2012. (JE)more
