- 2021-10-09
-
MUSIC
-
-
Donate to support families affected by the crisis in Ukraine ➔ Oh Wonder Releases New Album “22 Break”: Streaming
London-based alt-pop duo Oh Wonder, consisting of Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West, released their fourth studio album “22 Break” on October 8, 2021.
It is their first album in 8 months and a year. The album is as a history of their break-up, which documents their near-split in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and their time away from touring.
The subject of the album is their tumultuous and deeply personal time in their private lives.
Anthony West reflects, “It was such a weird thing, to make a break-up album with the person you're breaking up with, while you're breaking up.”
Josephine Vander Gucht said, “We had no idea we were writing a break-up album.”
The album comprises of 11-track and is accompanied by the short film. The duo wrote and recorded at their home studio.
The duo said, “We nearly broke up last year. It sounds dramatic, but it's the truth. We've spent 6 years making music and touring the world, our relationship defined by concerts, album covers and music videos. Being in a band is consuming and brilliant and difficult. To find a moment to look after yourself is hard, let alone to invest in and nurture your relationship. Lockdown was the first time in forever that we'd been together without hiding behind the shield of Oh Wonder.”- n2xthPXz3jI
The duo continued, “There were no distractions, no fans, no adrenaline. It was just us. And it was weird. And without being able to go anywhere or do anything to try and solve it, we did what we knew. We went into our studio at the bottom of the garden and wrote our feelings out. We explored love, our past and our future; our hopes and disappointments. It has culminated in an album of 11 songs. It's not "easy-listening", but it's the truth. The most honest thing we have ever made. So here is 22 Break, maybe the first break-up album in history written and recorded with the person you're breaking up with. It's awkward, it's vulnerable, but it also saved us.”
Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West finally got married in August this year. The duo opened a coffee shop Nola in Peckham.
They said, “7 years ago we went to a local coffee shop to upload our first ever song. Now we're in our OWN coffee shop Nola uploading a short film for our fourth album.”- source : Apple Music
