Oh Wonder are a London-based alt-pop duo consisting of Anthony West and Josephine Vander Gucht. Since releasing their debut album, they have seen international success with their alt-pop singles. Vander Gucht and West recorded and released one song a month for a year, starting in September 2014. All of the songs were released together as a self-titled debut album on 4 September 2015. On 14 July 2017, the duo released their second album, Ultralife. Both albums were entirely written, recorded, produced and mixed by the duo and have received cross-platform success. They played sold-out shows in London, Paris, New York, and Los Angeles one week after their debut album release, which marked the beginning of the band's touring career. They have since played 318 headline shows and festivals in 45 countries.
History
Formation and early years
Before the duo was formed, Josephine was a solo artist, first going by her own name and then later under the alias of "LAYLA". Anthony was originally part of the bands Tonight is Goodbye, Futures, and We The Wild. The two first met in High Wycombe on 21 March 2010 when Anthony was in the audience at one of Josephine's solo gigs. A year later Josephine attended one of his shows, talked with him, and they began writing songs and making music together. The duo released their first two songs under the name "Wonder Wonder", but changed it to "Oh Wonder" when they learned of another band with a similar name.
2014–2016: ''Oh Wonder''
West and Vander Gucht had an unorthodox approach to releasing their eponymous debut album, Oh Wonder. Over the course of a year, the duo released one new single each month, beginning 1 September 2014., having written, produced and mixed each song in their home studio in South-East London. These monthly installations culminated in the 2015 release of that first album, which also included two previously unreleased songs. The album reached number 26 on the UK Albums Chart, number 16 on the Canadian Albums Chart and number 80 on the US Billboard 200. The album Oh Wonder has sold nearly 1 million copies worldwide and has been certified gold in the UK, Canada, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Denmark and platinum in Russia and the Philippines. Oh Wonder gave their debut live performance for BBC Radio 1 at Maida Vale Studios, after receiving avid support from BBC Introducing and DJs Huw Stephens and Greg James. The band's first TV performance was on Conan, which aired in the US on 20 January 2016. They performed their single "Lose It". Since their debut album release, Oh Wonder has toured internationally in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Russia, Australia, Canada and the United States. Their performance in Manila was their first show in Asia. Oh Wonder enjoyed success in Thailand where it has garnered lots of social media fame which they even filmed the music video in Chinatown, Bangkok as a gift for Thai fans. They also toured as the opening act on the final installment of the Badlands Tour with Halsey from 21 July to 12 August 2016. Their 2016 debut festival appearances included Bonnaroo, Firefly, and Lollapaloozamusic festivals in the United States, in addition to Live Out in Monterrey, WayHome Festival in Oro-Medonte, Canada, and Electric Picnic in Stradbally, Ireland.
2016–2018: ''Ultralife''
On 30 March 2017, the duo announced that they finished their second studio album which was to be titled Ultralife. The album's lead and title track "Ultralife", was released the day after. As with their previous album, the band released new singles every two weeks in the run-up to the album. After "Ultralife" the band released the songs "Lifetimes", "My Friends", "Heavy", and "High On Humans" along with acoustic and piano versions of "Ultralife" and "High On Humans" recorded at Abbey Road Studios. The band embarked on an Ultralife World Tour in 2017 that saw them play a long run of headline shows in 34 countries across Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America. They also played three shows with Beck on his 2018 North America Tour.
2019-present: ''No One Else Can Wear Your Crown''
On 5 September 2019 the duo released "Hallelujah", the first single of their upcoming album, followed by "Better Now" on 25 October and "I Wish I Never Met You" on 14 November. The same day they announced via Twitter their album titled No One Else Can Wear Your Crown, released on 7 November. This was followed by a Christmas single, and finally "Happy" on 3 January, and one day before the release In And Out Of Love. The pair were to embark on a tour to support their album throughout Europe and North America in March 2020, however the latter part of the tour, including the entirety of the North American segment, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst subject to the 2020 UK "stay at home" restrictions related to the novel coronavirus, Oh Wonder released a series of new tracks under the name "Home Tapes".
