Alt-J — KEXP (The Triple Door), Seattle, 2012

Recorded on 27 September 2012 at Seattle’s Triple Door as part of KEXP radio’s VIP Club Concerts, this full performance catches Alt-J at the exact moment the British band breaks through, months after the release of ‘An Awesome Wave’ and its Mercury Prize. The trio (then a quartet) unfolds its cerebral indie rock, built on tight vocal harmonies, angular rhythms and a mastery of the crescendo. Captured before an audience with KEXP’s signature visual and sonic care, the video runs through ‘Tessellate’, ‘Something Good’, ‘Fitzpleasure’, ‘Breezeblocks’, ‘Matilda’ and ‘Taro’ — a distillation of the now-cult debut album. For fans of 2010s independent rock, this live capture is a rare testimony: that of a band still intimate, before the big halls. A filmed concert, complete and sourced, to savour for the finesse of a razor-sharp sound.