Alt-J’s ‘cocktail of vocals’ provide a refreshingly unpredictable sound

Alt-J has no regard for the conventions of rock music. The British alt-rock act’s songs are a quirky amalgam of folk and trip hop, their tunes are typically longer than five minutes, and each cut takes the listener to another place.

“I always thought the object was to do your own thing and not repeat yourself,” vocalist-keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton says while calling from Columbus, Ohio. “That’s how it’s been with this band since the beginning.”

Unger-Hamilton can’t help but look back and laugh at the group’s first show in London a decade ago.

“The crowd was taken aback,” Unger-Hamilton recalls. “We were only together for three months, and we decided to play out to see what would happen. The audience thought that we would play covers like ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’ But we went with the originals, and the reaction was good. We were encouraged and so we worked hard to get where we are today.”

Alt-J, which is named after the Mac computer command, fine-tuned its baroque sound for three years in the United Kingdom before releasing 2012’s “An Awesome Wave.” The elegant and innovative single “Breezeblocks” established the band in the UK.

The stylish group, which also includes vocalist-guitarist Joe Newman and drummer Thom Sonny Green, caught on in America courtesy of 2014’s “This is All Yours.” The band experienced a rapid rise in the United States, thanks to airplay of the rousing “Left Hand Free” and the dreamy “Every Other Freckle.”

Within a year, Alt-J went from performing in small clubs to intimate theaters to venues in excess of 3,000 capacity.

“We didn’t realize what was happening, since we were living in a vacuum,” Unger-Hamilton says. “We just went from show to show.”

Expectations were high for Alt-J after the 2014 tour. The band met them with “Relaxer,” which dropped in June. The left-of-center arrangements and constant stylistic shifts make for a compelling album.

“We’re constantly trying out new stuff,” Unger-Hamilton says. “We’re not lazy when it comes to creativity. We’re compelled to explore options. We want to keep evolving like the Beatles did. The Beatles are a massive inspiration.”

The melding of Unger-Hamilton and Newman’s voices helps Alt-J’s sound stand out.

“Jon and I combine for a vocal sound that is Americana-folk meets Laurel Canyon,” Unger-Hamilton says. “There is no other cocktail of vocals out there like what we present. We’re unusual, and I really think that’s a good thing today. When you look around at all the predictable in music, I think there are fans that want something more than that. We challenge ourselves to not just do what everybody else does. We’ll give you something you won’t expect with every album.”

Alt-J, which will perform Nov. 3 at Memorial Auditorium, is already thinking about its next release.

“We’re not there yet,” Unger-Hamilton says. “But it’s on our mind. I don’t know exactly what it’s going to be like. But what I do know is that it will once again be different because of who we are. We’re a band that trusts our instinct every time we do anything. I think that and the fact that we refuse to try to be anything we’re not is a big reason why we’re so distinctive. I’m not sure why more bands aren’t like that.”

This story was originally published November 2, 2017 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Alt-J’s ‘cocktail of vocals’ provide a refreshingly unpredictable sound."