Alt-J is officially the trio of Joe Newman (guitar/lead vocals), Thom Sonny Green (drums), Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards/vocals).
But on tour, the group has a fourth member that plays a considerable role in elevating the Alt-J concert experience. It just might not be easy for the uninformed to identify that fourth member during the shows.
“We use an amazing light show. It’s almost like a fourth member of the band when we’re on stage and is certainly a very exuberant and dazzling member of the band, much moreso than any of us,” Unger-Hamilton remarked in a mid-February phone interview. “So that has really helped and it leaves us kind of able to just stand there and concentrate on playing the songs without having to think too much about putting on a performance, as it were.”
The group’s music has enough happening to justify bringing an additional musician or two on tour. And in fact, the group started out as a four piece, with Gwilym Sainsbury playing guitar and bass, and also brought out a fourth musician for touring to support the second Alt-J album, “This Is All Yours.”
But Sainsbury left Alt-J in January 2014, and having a touring band member yielded mixed results.
“It was successful in some ways, but I think we all found it to be kind of like difficult not really being sure who was in the band and who wasn’t,” Unger-Hamilton explained. “It took a bit of a toll on all of us, the three of us in the band, and on the extra musicians.”
Whether Alt-J has been a trio or a quartet on stage and in the studio, the band has enjoyed an unusually fruitful first decade as a recording act.
Credit: Rosie Matheson
Credit: Rosie Matheson
The four musicians in Alt-J met while students at Leeds University in England in 2007, and began writing songs during their college years and landed record deals for various worldwide markets after graduation. The then-quartet’s 2012 debut album, “An Awesome Wave,” gave Alt-J an early breakthrough when it won the United Kingdom’s prestigious Mercury Prize. Eventually the debut went platinum or gold in several major countries, with the single “Breezeblocks” going platinum in America, the UK and Australia.
The momentum from “An Awesome Wave” carried over when “This Is All Yours” was released in September 2014. It topped the British album chart and produced three singles that went gold or platinum in various countries.
At that point, the pace of Alt-J’s career had started to wear on the band, and it led to a third album project in “Relaxer,” that despite its title, proved challenging as the trio pushed to meet a tight deadline to deliver the album.
“‘Relaxer,’ I don’t know, I think it was stressful. It was a bit rushed,” Unger-Hamilton said. “I think we were in a little of a kind of burnout phase at that point. And that’s why we took a year off after touring ‘Relaxer.’”
That 2019 break was extended by the pandemic, and in being able to work without pressure, Unger-Hamilton said unlike “Relaxer,” “The Dream” came together quite easily.
The band also found an ideal environment in which to create the album’s dozen songs.
“We had our own studio, so that was a really nice thing,” Unger-Hamilton said. “This time we actually found a house, which we rented. It was in a really nice part of London near where we all live and it worked really well — so well that we decided to record there, too. We asked our producer, Charlie Andrew, to move all of his gear in, and it was great. It just worked so well. I think that comfort we felt working there made a huge difference, really helped and improved the album.”
Like the band’s previous three albums, the music on “The Dream” proves elusive to define. The band draws predominantly from pop and rock, but elements of electronic music, soul, folk and jazz also filter into songs. The album is largely defined by songs like “U&ME,” “Happier When You’re Gone” and “Get Better,” which have easy-going tempos and fairly mellow character. However, a few other songs — “Losing My Mind,” “Chicago” and “Hard Drive Gold” — come with more of a rhythmic push and give the album some welcome occasional jolts of energy.
Fans can expect to hear a good number of songs from “The Dream” in Alt-J’s live show.
“We are playing a lot of the new album, but we are also playing a lot of old songs,” Unger-Hamilton said. “I think it’s mainly album four, “The Dream,” and album one (“An Awesome Wave”), and like three or so tracks from albums two and three respectively, which is cool, I think. We know that people love our first album, and it’s also the 10-year anniversary of our first album this year, so we’re keen to keep on playing those songs and keep on giving people the songs they want to hear. There are songs from this new album that we focused on to play live that we think will work really, really well live. Yeah, that’s the kind of balance we’re seeking.”
CONCERT PREVIEW
Alt-J with Portugal. The Man
7 p.m. March 2. $39.50-$89.50. State Farm Arena, 1 State Farm Drive, Atlanta. statefarmarena.com.
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