In this uncertain time, Oh Wonder have been keeping in contact with fans through Instagram, running live videos every evening at 8pm in which they answer questions, chat, and play acoustic versions of songs. Over the past two weeks, the band have performed the entirety of their debut album, and given fans a hint by mentioning that they had recorded a new song yesterday, 1st April.

In a video which they released to social media earlier today, Anthony West and Josephine Vander Gucht spoke about the project. “We have some massive news for you. We are starting a brand new project – it’s called ‘Home Tapes’ and it’s gonna be us writing, recording, producing, mixing brand new songs from our home studio which is at the end off our garden,” Vander Gucht revealed, continuing “And we’re gonna be sharing these songs as and when we write them during this crazy time to try and make sense of what’s happening. The first song is out tomorrow.”

Surprise! We’re excited to announce a new project called HOME TAPES We’re taking it back to how we started and we’re gonna write, produce and mix songs at home and release them. The first song is called ‘Lonely Star’ and it’s out at midnight tonight https://t.co/dHtmdvVkHQ pic.twitter.com/sJhye8nOrU

— Oh Wonder (@OhWonderMusic) April 2, 2020

The first song is called ‘Lonely Star’, and the pair teased the song throughout yesterday’s livestream. This form of releasing music is taking Oh Wonder back to their roots, since they gained popularity by putting out one song a month for a year, which ultimately became their self-titled debut album. Vander Gucht appreciated this in the post, wondering what the outcome of these new releases might be. The duo are working on the next track currently.

Oh Wonder have now released three albums with their record label Island Records, touring and reaching fans around the world. After the release of their latest album ‘No One Else Can Wear Your Crown’ they started off their tour with some intimate UK shows to promote the album. The tour was planned to run from February all the way through to August, but due to the Covid-19 outbreak the dates have been either cancelled or rescheduled.

pic.twitter.com/WLAjCKstIA — Oh Wonder (@OhWonderMusic) March 30, 2020

In the midst of the virus spreading, Oh Wonder have been reaching out to help as many people as they can. In every livestream, they ask fans to stay home and stay safe, sharing kind words, positivity, and resources to support people. Vander Gucht also posted a video asking fans to support local record stores which will suffer over the coming months, offering some of her favourite vinyls as ideas. Check out their new song ‘Lonely Star’ when it comes out tomorrow, Friday 3rd April.

Show and tell in support of independent record stores which need our help right now (as do all small businesses!) I just pre-ordered mac miller’s circles from @vinilorecstore to make myself feel better during this lockdown #loverecordstores pic.twitter.com/orLYEyWF5X

— Oh Wonder (@OhWonderMusic) March 26, 2020

Each track on the album was written and produced by the two members of Oh Wonder – Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West – in their London home studio. Their most popular song on the album is ‘Hallelujah’, which has now reached over 5 million plays on Spotify. Synth pop is still running through as a theme in the album, as with their previous works, ‘Oh Wonder’ and ‘Ultralife’. The new album, however, has more of an R&B influence as the band finds their way back to a sound they love, which they haven’t quite felt since the release of their debut album.

For all of the singles, a video was created in some form, whether it was a live recording, a story, or an art piece. Every message of the album is shown in these videos, and we even get a new insight into the relationship between Vander Gucht and West in ‘In And Out Of Love’. One-shot video for lead single ‘Hallelujah’ was released on 5^th September 2019 and now has over 1 million views.

Oh Wonder met in 2010 and began writing together, releasing two singles under a different name. In 2014, they decided to release one new song every month for a year, which ended up becoming their debut album. Titled after the band’s name, the album peaked at number 26 on the UK Albums Chart and sold 1 million copies worldwide. They went on to perform around the world and release their second album ‘Ultralife’ in 2017 after signing to Island Records.

From the start, Oh Wonder have always been very independent, not only producing and recording their own work, but even designing their artwork and posters. West said in an interview with Atwood Magazine that this method was very difficult when they wrote ‘Ultralife’ due to their busy schedules, but that they feel like the new music sounds like “the band that we were meant to be”.

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A post shared by Oh Wonder (@ohwondermusic) on Dec 4, 2019 at 6:35am PST

The next step is touring, which the band will do throughout this year. They played their first shows of 2020 last week, in their ‘Intimate UK Album Release Shows’ which continues until Friday 14^th February. In March and April, the first part of their world tour begins, with the second part running from July to August. Find tickets on their website and stream the album or purchase on iTunes.