ALBUM OF THE MONTH - OCTOBER
Oh Wonder make the kind of music you’d play in a really “Instagrammable” location, where you’re living in a cinematic main-character moment. Harmonies, synths, beautiful lyrics, you know the stuff. It's dreamy pop music that takes over the heart and soul. Sounds good right... Well, their latest album, 22 Break, takes this aesthetic and gives it a major shake up.
Josephine and Anthony Vander West, who make up this alt-pop duo, are now a married couple. But you'd be wrong to expect a lovey-dovey collection of romantic tracks about each other. 22 Break was written during a time when they nearly broke up. Lockdown turmoil left their relationship in tatters and they decided to write about it. Pretty full on shit right?
Writing a break-up album with your partner on the verge of your break-up makes this record the epitome of intimate and vulnerable. Listening to 22 Break is like being invited to someone’s house at its messiest when everything is broken and the walls are falling apart. This album is a journey. Fighting so many emotions, so many worries, rational and irrational thoughts, perceptions of love and life - it does it all in such a well constructed way. The only thing still together in this relationship is the music and thank god it is - because it is beautiful
The music is infused with unsettling sensations, amplified by the smooth and casual sound of the instruments against Josephine’s crisp and sharp vocals. It’s chilling in places but then also settling when accompanied by Anthony’s superb harmonies. There are twists and turns; pinnacles of sound and chaotic moments mixed with more solemn, lonely tracks - just as you’d imagine their romantic journey to have been. Fire to frost, chaos to calm.
Every song on the album is accompanied by a black-and-white video, complementing the emotions pervading the music. The duo also used all the videos to make a short film of this album. So if you’re yet to listen to 22 Break, I’d recommend watching the film to get an incredible audio-visual experience.
Oh Wonder really pushed the limits of intimacy in this album - they laid everything out on the table for the world to see - which leaves me worrying where they go next. However that is not worth worrying about right now. For now I must go and enjoy once more such a beautiful, melancholy soundscape that makes me want to love, cry and stare longingly out of a rain-soaked window.
Overall Rating: 10/10
Stand Out Tracks: Don't Let The Neighborhood Hear, 22 Break, Rollercoaster Baby.
Written By: Matthew Bird
Comments
Post a Comment