Alt-J - Matilda

So, you call your band after an unpronounceable keyboard single (you know, the one that looks like a triangle) – where next? Knock out a tune of such quaint indie sugariness you can almost imagine the festival planners rubbing their palms in glee as they dial up the band to add them to their bill. Alt-J sound inclusive, communal – an everyman band for an everyman audience, and in Matilda – a bit like an early Maccabees – they hit on a simple formula of cute songwriting, minimal backing and general atmospheric spaciousness. It seems too early to bandy around phrases like ‘The next XX’, but judging by the twitching, arguably far better Tessellate, Alt-J certainly seem like promising candidates for the mantle.