UK electro rockers Alt-J have announced the departure of founding bassist Gwil Sainsbury. In a Twitter post yesterday (January 11), the band wrote that he was leaving Alt-J effective immediately. The departure appears to be amicable with the band saying the removal was "purely a personal decision" and "as our best friend, we support him completely."
Alt-J was formed by Sainsbury, Joe Newman, Gus Unger-Hamilton and Thom Green while they attending Leeds University in 2007. The quartet got its break with their 2012 debut LP An Awesome Wave, which won the British Mercury Prize. As Billboard notes, the album peaked at No. 80 on the Billboard 200 with two singles, "Breezeblocks" and "Tessellate," in the top 20 of the Alternative Songs chart at No. 9 and No. 19, respectively.
The band recently released an EP called Summer, which featured remixes of songs from An Awesome Wave.
A replacement for Sainsbury has not yet been announced. We will keep you updated with more information as it becomes available. What do you think of the news? Let us know in the comments section below!
