Oh Wonder (10 Years On) Oh Wonder
- 1 Livewire (10 Years On) 03:22
- 2 Body Gold (10 Years On) 03:13
- 3 Technicolour Beat (10 Years On) 02:55
- 4 Drive (10 Years On) 03:16
- 5 Lose It (10 Years On) 04:11
- 6 Landslide (10 Years On) 03:30
- 7 White Blood (10 Years On) 04:13
- 8 Without You (10 Years On) 03:41
- 9 The Rain (10 Years On) 02:46
- 10 Dazzle (10 Years On) 03:03
- 11 All We Do (10 Years On) 03:34
- 12 Midnight Moon (10 Years On) 02:33
- 13 Shark (10 Years On) 03:00
- 14 Heart Hope (10 Years On) 04:08
- 15 Plans (10 Years On) 04:06
Info for Oh Wonder (10 Years On)
10 year anniversary: A decade after their launch, Oh Wonder are re-recording that first baker’s dozen that gave them so much – starting with “Body Gold (10 Years On),” a cinematic and soul-stirring remake that shines with all the intimacy, vulnerability, and heart of their debut single.
“Body Gold (10 Years On)” is the start of a very special year for Oh Wonder’s Josephine and Anthony Vander West (who married, and created a new surname out of their two last names, in 2021). The release arrives just one month after Josephine released her own solo debut album under the moniker That Woman, and heralds the beginning of a full year’s worth of Oh Wonder re-recordings as the pair lead up to the re-release of their self-titled debut album, set for September 2025.
“It’s been a decade since we started Oh Wonder,” the band said in a statement. “On September 1st 2014 we released our first song ‘Body Gold,’ and made a commitment to write, record and release one song on the first of every month for a year. That crazy idea culminated in our self-titled album, which launched a beautiful ten years of making music and touring the world a few times over. We are so grateful to those 13 songs, but looking back we made them with one keyboard, one microphone and barely any idea what we were doing. Since then, we’ve sung those songs hundreds of times on stage, and now they somehow mean even more to us. We wondered… what would it be like to record them 10 years on? With access to real instruments and a studio? How would we play them now? How would we sing those lyrics now? Join us as we re-record and release one song a month. Hopefully it’ll sound like you’re listening to your favourite song, but with a brand new pair of headphones on. So we present to you… our first album, 10 years on.”
A stunningly raw ode to a companion, the song captures the euphoria of love and the all-consuming ache of its absence. “Before you came round, my heart would never beat much faster; before you came round, I was ready to slow down,” the pair sing at the song’s entrance, all leading up to the chorus’ emotionally charged outpouring, “Let it go, paint my body gold. Take our bodies higher and higher and higher…” Through hushed harmonies, soft dynamics, and a stunning array of shiver-inducing instrumental performances, Oh Wonder revel in the ancient beauty of that deepest form of human connection.
“This is what happens if you re-master, re-mix, re-play and re-sing a song 10 years later, with real instruments, better microphones and a whole lotta gratitude after a decade of singing these words to hundreds of thousands of people… Hopefully it feels the same, but better,” Oh Wonder shared upon the song’s re-release. “Like a warm, comforting hug for your ears. We hope you love it and it brings back some good memories.”
Oh Wonder
Oh Wonder
When we last heard from Londoners Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West, they were capping an incredible year with a sold-out show at London’s Roundhouse. In the space of fourteen months, they went from tentatively playing a first live show at London’s ICA to touring the world, playing shows across Latin America, Australia, Russia and Asia, and repeat UK, Europe, US and Canada tours to ever increasing rooms. It culminated in 162 shows in 112 cities, with a mighty 83,000 tickets sold. A connection.
Oh Wonder began as a writing project, where the duo set out to write, record and release one song every month for a year, hoping to inevitably pitch the songs to other artists. However the tracks were being listened to in their hundreds of thousands, and then into their multi-millions; now their first album is fast approaching half a billion streams. Anthony and Josephine’s side project had inadvertently morphed into an internationally touring band; a happy accident indeed.
‘Ultralife’ is the sound of a new confidence seeping into the pair’s songwriting. It is muscular in its delivery, celebratory in its message, and plays with a dizzying array of textures and sounds, but without losing the essence of what makes Oh Wonder so special.
Oh Wonder head to the US in April to play a series of West Coast shows around their two slots at Coachella. They return to the US in May for six further dates ahead of a summer of festival performances across the UK/Europe.
This album contains no booklet.