Collaborating with MasterCard and Metropolis Studios to hold the event, Oh Wonder played acoustic guitar and piano, backed up by a string quartet. They played all five songs from their ‘Home Tapes’ EP, which was written, recorded, and released during lockdown – these consisted of ‘Lonely Star’, ‘Keep On Dancing’, ‘Don’t You Worry’, ‘I Like It When You Love Me’, and ‘Oceansize’.

Between songs, the pair answered questions sent in by fans in real time, about their name, songwriting process, and experience during lockdown. It’s clear that the band has been very busy, though they were quick to admit that they had struggled at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many of the songs shared on the ‘Home Tapes’ EP were written to lift spirits and make listeners feel less alone, such as ‘Lonely Star’, ‘Keep On Dancing’, and ‘Don’t You Worry’. Furthermore, when each of these songs was released, a video was created featuring fans who sent in their own home videos.

This isn’t the first live-stream Oh Wonder has put together; throughout March and April, the pair held daily Instagram streams in which they performed one song a day from their three albums. Overall, this made a total of 37 performances.

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Last livestream tonight at 8pm BST We can only hope that Gaurav will return for another rendition of his favourite Drake song. What song of ours would you like to hear again and we’ll play it just for you

A post shared by Oh Wonder (@ohwondermusic) on Apr 23, 2020 at 8:31am PDT

The two members of Oh Wonder ( Anthony West and Josephine Vander Gucht) 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, and most recently their album ‘No One Else Can Wear Your Crown’.

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We have the most beautiful fans in the entire world. Thank you for sharing your creativity with us We are so proud to present the music video for ‘Lonely Star’. Shout out to everyone that submitted a video, and big thanks to @paint_studios for curating and directing ✌ link to the full video in stories

A post shared by Oh Wonder (@ohwondermusic) on Apr 16, 2020 at 9:17am PDT

The duo’s first release from the series was ‘Lonely Star’, came out on 3rd April and already has 1 million plays on Spotify. To the delight of their fans, Oh Wonder asked for short video clips which represent the song to be used in an inventive music video. This idea takes further the goal to bring people together in this uncertain time. The ‘Lonely Star’ video was available to watch on 16th April and the reaction was incredible. Fans from all over the world submitted entries hoping to be a part of the end result.

A wide range of creative projects were included in the music video, such as artwork, baking, and people playing the song themselves. In the YouTube description box, Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West wrote a message which reads “We were blown away by the creativity and volume of submissions from people whilst in isolation. We really did try to include as many submissions as possible, and we are so grateful to everyone for sharing their videos with us. It just shows that at this very difficult time, we are not alone.”

The collaboration project was such a success that the same idea will be used for the ‘Keep On Dancing’ video. Fans were asked to “throw yourself a one-person party, bake a cake or get your dancing shoes on” to potentially be showcased in the uplifting video.

Over the past few weeks while Covid-19 has been spreading and countries are in lock-down, Oh Wonder have run nightly live streams on Instagram Live. During the sessions, the pair performed songs from their three albums and chatted to viewers. Tonight will be the final live stream for the time being, but the band will continue to release new music and videos for a while yet. It was announced in March that the summer UK and European tour will be moved to later in the year in November and December. Unfortunately some dates have been cancelled and some are waiting to be rescheduled – find more information on the official website.

 

 

 

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Tickets are on sale now for our European shows in November! Link in bio

 

A post shared by Oh Wonder (@ohwondermusic) on Mar 13, 2020 at 7:18am PDT

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, and most recently their album ‘No One Else Can Wear Your Crown’.

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.

To celebrate the release of our new album, we’ll be doing a run of intimate shows in support of our favourite independent record stores across the UK! Tickets are on sale NOW!! https://t.co/Y7ZxknrzEa pic.twitter.com/6a15UYCsgG

— Oh Wonder (@OhWonderMusic) December 13, 2019

On February 7, the London-based duo will release No One Else Can Wear Your Crown, their long-awaited third studio album. The album will mark the duo’s return to music after the release of Ultralife in July 2017. They have so far shared three songs off the album: “Hallelujah“, “Better Now“, and the latest single “I Wish I Never Met You”.

In addition to the intimate shows for celebrating the release of the new album, the alt-pop duo will also go on tour in Europe and the UK in March. For the UK dates, there will be five shows, one of which is an already sold-out gig at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London.

Check out the dates for Oh Wonder’s 2020 World Tour, Part 1 below:
03/03/2020 — SWG3 — Glasgow
04/03 — Albert Hall — Manchester
06/03 — Academy — Bristol
07/03 — Institute — Birmingham
09/03 — O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire — London *sold out*

No One Else Can Wear Your Crown will be available on February 7. The album is up for pre-order now.