Matilda (Alt-J song)


"Matilda" is a song by British rock band Alt-J from their debut studio album An Awesome Wave, released on 10 January 2012 as a digital download. It was released as a split single with "Fitzpleasure" on 24 February as a digital download and on 10" triangle-shaped vinyl. It was written by Joe Newman, Gus Unger-Hamilton, Gwilym Sainsbury and Thom Green and produced by Charlie Andrew. The song relates to the movie Léon, specifically the relationship between the main character and a young girl called Mathilda. The opening lines are the last ones said by the main character in the film. The band would later release the song "Leon", a tribute to the main character of the film. The cover image is a photograph of Ball's Pyramid.
The song has a YouTube video featuring imagery of human faces which steadily morph so that every so often you are looking at a new face. This video contained a self-referential gimmick as at the time of release was the shortcut for a YouTube video to rewind 7 seconds which was the perfect amount of time to go from one "finished" facial image to another so you would see a new face each time you pressed it. This no longer is the case as the shortcut is simply and is now a 10-second skip so it no longer syncs up with the video.

Track listing

Digital download
  1. "Matilda" – 3:48
10" single
  1. "Matilda" – 3:48
  2. "Fitzpleasure" – 3:39
7" single
  1. "Matilda" – 3:48
  2. "Matilda"
Digital iTunes EP
  1. "Matilda" – 3:48
  2. "Fitzpleasure" – 3:39
  3. "Matilda" – 3:49
  4. "Fitzpleasure" – 4:23