Oh Wonder

The London-based song-writing duo Oh Wonder is the latest lottery winner of the online-music era. Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West began making music together in 2014, and immediately set out on a project in which they were to write, record and a release a song via SoundCloud each month for year. The experiment was able to cut through the saturation of online music and became a huge success; the group has around 13.5 million plays on their SoundCloud page, and the project, along with three additional songs, became their self-titled debut in September 2014. Since the release of the album the group has been busy touring--moving their fan base off of the Internet and into concert halls--while gaining a larger following in the process.

Oh Wonder is an album of subdued electronic R & B songs that are driven by keyboard and textured by synths, which is all placed over top of understated drum loops. The often-melancholy tracks are written from a perspective of longing, as the narrator(s) write with a conviction that cannot be content with living a dormant life. The song “All We Do,” serves as a warning when it says:

All we do is play it safe
All we do is live inside a cage
All we do is play it safe

This “safe” lifestyle is contrasted with the freedom of letting go of pressures and expectation as described in the song “Lose It.” The song says:

Find a space and lose it
You can do it
Won’t you dance with me?
Move your feet and feel it in the space between
You gotta give yourself a moment, let your body be
We gotta lose it

These words are sung in a pre-chorus that builds the suspension for so long that when the dance-worthy chorus finally breaks the listener is given a sense of release, enforcing the physical response to music as a metaphor for total freedom.

Letting go is not without risks, however, as heartbreak is always a possibility for those who throw caution to the wind. Oh Wonder is not naïve to this reality and addresses the potential consequences head on. In the song “Landslide,” which is written from the perspective of someone outside looking in, Oh Wonder sings:

So when you’re caught in a landslide
I’ll be there for you, I’ll be there for you
And in the rain, give you sunshine
I’ll be there for you, I’ll be there for you

Oh Wonder recognizes that there will be hardships for those who leave their comfort zones, but implies that we need to hold on to something outside ourselves for support.

Throughout the album’s 15 songs, the two members of Oh Wonder never harmonize a single time. This is a rare approach to male-female dual lead vocals. By choosing to both sing the same melody at the same time, Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West avoid the convention of vocal parts as a form of musical dialogue between two voices, instead choosing to present their songs from a unified voice. This voice is one of restless yearning, a spirit that refuses to stay still; a fitting sentiment for a band named Oh Wonder.

Jordan Petersen

Presentations at Calvin University

Oh Wonder
Friday, January 22, 2016 08:00:00 PM
Covenant Fine Arts Center Auditorium