Ultralife is the second album for the London based duo Oh Wonder, but the first to be released in the conventional way. Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West had a collection of songs that they released at the rate of one a month online in 2015 to much online acclaim. Ultralife is the much anticipated twelve song package of joy!
The title track, “Ultralife” is an energetic song that should be the anthem for the year. Vivacious lyrics and a lively melody make for a tune that will be on repeat. “Heavy” is a fresh number featuring plenty of delicate harmonies with focus on the instruments.
Oh Wonder has struck a real chord with “High On Humans”, which was the second single from the album. Since its’ release on June 9, the video for “High On Humans” has garnered over 378,000 views and for good reason. Both the song and the video focus completely on people, which is becoming more of a rarity in our modern world. On Instagram, Josephine shared:
High On Humans” was written about this amazing experience I had on the way home from Heathrow Airport. I walked onto the carriage and it was completely empty apart from these two girls who were sitting opposite me. They were just chatting about food, so one of them would be like, “Oh! How about hot sauce, do you like hot sauce?” And the other girl went, “Oh, no I don’t like hot sauce it’s too hot” At which point I was like “Oh no what do you mean! Kids!” And they both looked at me like who is this weirdo talking on the train with us? But I came off really high.
And then I saw this guy covered in blood and he was missing his teeth, and I leaned in and said, “Oh I don’t mean to intrude, but I noticed you had a bit of an accident” He was like “Yeah, and?” And he got all confrontational so I said, “Oh no I just wanted to say I’m really sorry, you’ll be absolutely fine, don’t stress” and he softened and he was all, “Oh thank you so much, that’s is amazing!” And I was so hyped, when I got back to the flat I just sang into my phone: “getting high, getting high, getting high on humans” And we wrote a song about the importance of talking to strangers and finding highs in other people.
Oh Wonder is currently on tour in Europe, but will begin the North American leg on September 12, If they are in your town, be sure to catch them. Whatever you do, Ultralife should be high on your list of downloads.
Track List:
- Solo
- Ultralife
- Lifetimes
- High On Humans
- All About You
- Heavy
- Bigger Than Love
- Heart Strings
- Slip Away
- Overgrown
- My Friends
- Waste
