Swept up by Alt-J’s wave

Alt-J
Olympia Theatre, Dublin
****
It's rare to come across a band that confound all attempts at categorisation. Are Alt-J indie? Electro? Folkadelic math-dubstep? Once you've abandoned all attempts to pigeonhole this Leeds quartet, though, something wonderful happens – you are borne aloft by the pure musicality of it all, propelled by the drum'n' bassy rhythms one minute, and floating on gossamer guitar lines the next. Three songs in, and you've stopped searching for a chorus or middle-eight or other familiar landmark – you're just enjoying the ride.

Even before they won last year’s Mercury Music Prize with their debut album An Awesome Wave, Alt-J were already attracting a loyal cult followin g.

Alt-J's skittering art-pop means the band are like a 21st-century Soft Machine. Singer-guitarist Joe Newman is the Kevin Ayers of the band, covering the bucolic, folk-whimsy end of the spectrum with delicately fingered chords and birdlike voice. Keyboard player Gus Unger- Hamilton is the Mike Ratledge figure, presiding precisely over the avant-garde, jazz-prog end of things. With guitarist/bassist Gwil Sainsbury and drummer Thom Green, they brew up a concoction as oddly compelling as anything Robert Wyatt can come up with.

The band begin the gig with the opening three tracks from the album: the meandering Intro , the madrigal-like Interlude I (Ripe & Ruin) and the monumental Tesselate . Something Good is dreamlike and hypnotic : Newman waves the melody in front of the crowd like a matador baiting a bull and the crowd responds with a roaring chorus. Dissolve Me and Matilda also melt with the crowd, while Slow Dre , the band's mash-up of Dr Dre and Kylie Minogue , manages to be sensual and menacing at the same time.

Their cover of College's A Real Hero , however, is inspired, while Bloodflood and Breezeblocks provide a headspinning finish, and the chanting hook of Taro supplies a suitably symphonic finale.