Matilda (Alt-J song)

"Matilda"
Single by Alt-J
from the album An Awesome Wave
B-side	"Fitzpleasure"
Released	10 January 2012
Recorded	2009
Genre	Indie folk progressive folk art rock
Length	3:48
Label	Infectious
Songwriter(s)	Joe Newman, Gus Unger-Hamilton, Gwilym Sainsbury and Thom Green
Producer(s)	Charlie Andrew
Alt-J singles chronology
"Bloodflood" (2011) "Matilda" (2012) "Breezeblocks" (2012)

"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 (1994), specifically the relationship between the main character (a hitman) and a young girl called Mathilda.^[1] 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 Alt+J 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 J and is now a 10-second skip so it no longer syncs up with the video.

Digital download^[2]

1. "Matilda" – 3:48

10" single^[3]

1. "Matilda" – 3:48
2. "Fitzpleasure" – 3:39

7" single^[4]

1. "Matilda" – 3:48
2. "Matilda" (Johnson Somerset Radio Mix)

Digital iTunes EP^[5]

1. "Matilda" – 3:48
2. "Fitzpleasure" – 3:39
3. "Matilda" (Remix) – 3:49
4. "Fitzpleasure" (bretonLABS Ghost Remix) – 4:23