Throughout our lives, we stand still and we move in a constant state of transformation. Photographs, language and music accompany us, marking our evolutions. Charcoal lines on door frames. UK-based Alt-J (∆) meets metamorphosis head on; the delta symbol itself signifying change in mathematical equations. Like their predecessors Radiohead and Yeasayer, Alt-J’s music is both wildly inventive and weirdly beautiful. Yet Alt-J has a unique way of occupying those precious spaces between notes. When you stop and listen to it, you hear the silence inhaling and exhaling its own kind of fire.
Lyrically speaking, “Taro” (from An Awesome Wave) is an ode to Gerda Taro, the first female photojournalist to cover the front lines of a war and to die while doing so. Musically, “Taro” represents ∆.