An Awesome Wave

An Awesome Wave is the debut studio album by English indie rock band alt-J (∆), released on 25 May 2012 by Infectious Records. The album includes the singles "Matilda"/"Fitzpleasure", "Breezeblocks" and "Tessellate". It peaked at number thirteen on the UK Albums Chart, and also charted in Belgium, France, Netherlands and Switzerland. An Awesome Wave won the 2012 British Barclaycard Mercury Prize, and in 2013 was named Album of the Year at the Ivor Novello Awards. The title is a reference to a quote from the 2000 American-Canadian film American Psycho.
The album artwork for An Awesome Wave is a multi-layered radar image of the Ganges river delta in Bangladesh. The image in each of the three layers was acquired by the European Space Agency's Envisat Earth-observing satellite, taken separately on 20 January, 24 February and 31 March 2009. The overlaid image, titled Ganges' Dazzling Delta, exposes a multitude of colours arising from the variations in background radiation occurring between the three acquisition times.
An Awesome Wave entered the UK Albums Chart at number nineteen on sales of 6,720 copies. After winning the Mercury Prize, the album reached a new peak position of number thirteen, selling 13,527 copies. On 2 August 2013, the album was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), denoting shipments in excess of 300,000 units in the UK.
In Canada, the album debuted at number thirty on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 1,800 copies.
An Awesome Wave first charted in America on 6 October 2012, initially entering at #134. On 4 May 2013, seven months later, An Awesome Wave achieved its peak position of #80.