Oh Wonder's Josephine Vander West has put out new song ‘I Was Aching' under her That Woman moniker.
Her new single ‘I Was Aching' is released today and it's taken from her debut solo album ‘Find Joy', which will be released on 9th August 2024 on Highwater Recordings. Watch a live performance of ‘I Was Aching' below:
‘I Was Aching' follows previous singles ‘Hymn for a Woman' and ‘Change'. The performance video for the song features a completely live one-shot performance of the song arranged for ten women, including strings and vocals.
“‘I Was Aching' is a rumination on the threads of love and self-esteem (or lack thereof) that effortlessly weave their way through generations,” Josephine explains. “Without confronting they might result in tight knots of trauma and low self-worth, and a consequent ache to be loved and accepted – “teach me to repeat your pain, I'll sing it 'till I'm faded.”
After a decade as one half of the much-loved alt-pop duo Oh Wonder, releasing five critically acclaimed albums, amassing over three billion streams, headlining festivals and achieving so many goals and dreams – including Billie Eilish covering one of their songs – Josephine found herself feeling unfulfilled and looking for answers as to why she felt somehow incomplete.
That Woman was borne out of her need to process certain experiences she had faced navigating the music industry and wider world as a woman and pull at the threads of what it means to be a woman. “I definitely give way less fucks after making this record,” she says. “It was so easy to write. Because it’s like I’ve been needing to write it for the best part of 15 years. And it’s just finally now that was the time to be able to address those things and make sense of them.”
‘Find Joy' was written and recorded by Josephine Vander West at Highwater Studio in Deptford, South London which, along with their coffee shop NOLA in Peckham, she and husband/bandmate Anthony Vander West founded. Both the studio and coffee shop are focused on building community spaces and supporting young artists.
That Woman will perform an intimate headline show at Cadogan Hall on 24th September 2024.
