“It’s a mad schedule, but it’s good fun,” said Gus Unger-Hamilton, keyboardist and vocalist for the British band Alt-J, of the group’s nonstop touring since the 2012 release of their debut record, An Awesome Wave. “We toured the first album for nearly two years and then went straight back to the studio and made the second album and then went back on tour, so there hasn’t been a lot of downtime.”
Alt-J formed in the halls of the University of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England, in 2007 and for the next four years crafted and honed its unique sound — a pastiche of enchanting keyboard-driven melodies; sometimes scratchy, sometimes delicate vocals; dynamic tempo shifts; and rock sensibilities, among other elements. The band quickly acquired a large following of devoted fans with its first album; its latest, This Is All Yours, went straight to number one in the U.K. following its fall 2014 release.
In anticipation of Alt-J’s Santa Barbara Bowl appearance on April 14, I recently spoke by phone with Unger-Hamilton, who was in Nashville, Tennessee, with the band resting up before their first-ever performance at the Grand Ole Opry.