alt-J - An Awesome Wave

An Awesome Wave is the debut studio album by British indie rock band alt-J, originally released in May 2012 via Infectious Music.

alt-J was formed in 2007 by Gwil Sainsbury (guitar, bass), Joe Newman (guitar, lead vocals), Thom Sonny Green (drums) and Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards, vocals). They have become one of the most successful British bands of the millennium.

Their debut album was produced by Charlie Andrew, and recorded in London between 2009 and 2011.

The album received positive reviews upon release and reached #13 on the UK Albums charts after winning the 2012 British Barclaycard Mercury Prize. The album was also named Album of the Year at the Ivor Novello Awards.

The distinctive album cover artwork is a multi-layered radar image of the Ganges river delta in Bangladesh, taken by various satellites and then overlaid to produce the multitude of colours produced by variations in background radiation between the times when the images were taken.

The album peaked at #9 in Australia and #80 on the US Billboard 200 Albums chart.

This album is a 2022 limited edition reissue on fern green coloured vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve with printed inner sleeve, pressed in the UK via Infectious Music.