Label: Island Records
Released: 7th October 2022
Sometimes, you have to fall apart to come back together stronger. For Oh Wonder, they found a newfound power and harmony amidst the flames of destruction.
A follow-up to October’s ’22 Break’, their latest album ’22 Make’ is the phoenix rising from the ashes, the romance that takes you by welcome surprise in the wake of a heartache. After the pair’s relationship almost crumbled mid-pandemic, they found their way back to each other and emerged more enamoured than ever. It’s a story filled with hope and love – breathlessly romantic but never too saccharine to dissuade the more cynical listeners, ’22 Make’ is an album where life comes back into focus.
Heaving with reinvigorated notes of affection for one another and an adoration that loiters in the backdrop of every track, ’22 Make’ feels like Oh Wonder at their most joyous. It offers an appreciative new outlook, one which hones in on the small moments of falling in love again and reminds us of their weight.
Across the album, Josephine and Anthony exist in tandem – voices entangled and complimentary, vulnerability on full display, smiles blinding through each chorus. ‘Sweet Disaster’ finds beauty and acceptance in chaos, its saxophone solo contributing to and exemplifying the sheer delight to be found in being unsure of the future but knowing you have that one person besides you. It celebrates fate and it embraces those large, shouty emotions that people are oft scared to articulate. ‘Fuck It, I Love You’ is a piano-heavy, pop-leaning toast to the heights of love and romance – it captures the album’s essence to its core. An exhilarated honouring of intimacy and passion, ’22 Make’ is the sun moving from behind the clouds – it’s a soundtrack to a new lease of life for Oh Wonder, one you’ll revel in being audience to.
