OH WONDER Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Variety is the spice of life, as they say, and Oh Wonder have clearly attempted to distill that idea into their latest long form. So hard to pin down, the work here straddles many genres, all of which are accessible in their own way. Yet it never fully commits; universal adoration is clearly the goal.

For dedicated fans "No One Else Can Wear Your Crown" may be jarring. The record sees Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West, et al, explore avenues that aren't always the obvious matches for their sweet pop lullabies. There's more than a smattering of EDM throughout, see those power drops and all that synth discordance. "Nothing But You", arguably the finest here, sees contemporary R&B and shiny hip hop flows come to the fore. Of course there's plenty of Oh Wonder-ness too, "Happy" being one example, but this will be remembered as their most daring and different to date.