Sibling trio Womb have released ‘Only You,’ the fourth single from their upcoming third album One Is Always Heading Somewhere, to be released on March 14th. The album will be available digitally and on clear vinyl LP via Flying Nun Records.
The lyrics ‘Love not lightly, light on water’ are the driving force behind the new song, ‘Only You,’ which draws on Chris Knox’s 1989 anthem, ‘Not Given Lightly,’ and shares a similar conviction. “Light on water’” can be witnessed dancing across the step printed, 16mm frames in the new music video directed by Caleb Corlett, showing the allure of love and the desire to be submerged beyond the surface.
One Is Always Heading Somewhere is Womb’s third album, recorded throughout 2023 and 2024, between living rooms and bedrooms of various houses across the country – from the trio’s hometown of Te Whanganui-a-Tara to their new homes of Whanganui, Whakatū, and Tāmaki Makaurau. Additional recording was done at their dear friend Bevan Smith’s backyard studio, Circle Blue Studios, with mixing done with their new collaborator De Stevens at Roundhead Studios.
“One is always heading somewhere” are words that arose after reading a poem by Ocean Vuong, ‘Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong’ – the lines go: “The most beautiful part of your body / is where it’s headed. and remember, / loneliness is still time spent / with the world.”
The album builds musically from where their previous albums – Like Splitting the Head from the Body and Dreaming of the Future Again – left off. While still harbouring their signature emotive and ethereal sound, Womb’s third album sees the three moving toward a more refined style. The arrangements are layered and warm, where Georgette’s driving drums are met with percussive samples, Haz’s cinematic synths swirl and rise, and Cello’s textured strings stretch across the tracks. There are also sparser moments that draw you to Cello’s direct and often melancholic vocal delivery.
Lyrically, the songs trace moments across the two years recording the album, drawing on the repeated imagery that characterises Cello’s days: of driving, of dreaming, of light on water, or in the sky. Each song is both personal and allegorical, diaristic and metaphoric – each looking at connection and the things we are tethered to.
Praise for WOMB
“Oceanic synth textures, chiming guitars and carefully deployed sound design elements coalesce into rushing waves of emotion and percussive power” – Undertheradar
“With its gentle acoustic guitar melody and ethereal vocals, the restrained song reminds us that even in solitude, we’re still connected to the world around us.” – Rolling Stone AU/NZ
Womb is excited to be heading out on the Aotearoa/Australia One Is Always Heading Somewhere album tour, with special guest appearances at each show.
One Is Always Heading Somewhere Album Tour
28 March – Te Rore Community Hall, Ngāhinapōuri – with Big Sigh +
29 March – Double Whammy, Tāmaki Makaurau – with Hun Lynch +
5 April – Meow, Te Whanganui-a-Tara – with Juniper May *
11 April – Space Academy, Ōtautahi – with Mona Vasa +
26 April – The Curtin, Naarm (AUS) – support act TBC
+ Tickets on sale from Undertheradar
* Tickets on sale from Flicket
One Is Always Heading Somewhere
Out 14th March Digitally And On Clear Vinyl LP
Via Flying Nun Records.
Preorder ‘One Is Always Heading Somewhere‘ HERE
Womb – One Is Always Heading Somewhere – Tracklisting
One Is Always Heading Somewhere
Only You
Slip
Angels
Unto
Georgie’s Song
Just Like Waves
Interlude #2
Erosion
Take (ft. Ben Woods)
Sometimes
O.I.A.H.S.
“These twelve songs are a collection of moments throughout a span of time in our lives – the oldest song [Erosion] written ten years ago. Because these songs are often diaristic in nature, having self-recorded nearly everything at the various homes we’ve lived in feels very special – I can hear the creak of my old chair, the sound of cars going by on the street I used to live on, the tap of the space bar on my laptop as I finish recording.” – Cello Forrester
The album art is a photograph taken by Haz Forrester on a long bus ride through the top of Te Waipounamu. The image is overlain by four cut-out shapes drawn by Georgette, which reference similar shapes found in diaries kept by abstract artist Hilma af Klint.
Whilst forming in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa, music has always been central to the siblings’ relationship. In the flat cornfield suburbs of the American midwest, Georgette would share Limewire mp3s between the three. Before then their three older siblings would show them music when they lived in a Eucalyptus forest near Daylesford, Australia. After moving to Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa in their teenage years, the three grew alongside the music community they found there.
Since their inception, Womb have released their first self-titled Womb EP (Sonorous Circle, 2015), their debut album Like Splitting the Head from the Body (Arcade Recordings and Sonorous Circle, 2018), a second EP, Holding a Flame (Flying Nun Records, 2021), and their sophomore album, Dreaming of the Future Again (Flying Nun Records, 2022).
Womb have toured many times nationally around Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as taking their sound abroad to Hobart’s Hobienalle in 2019, and touring mainland China in 2019 with friend and booking manager Kristen Ng / Kiwese / Kaishandao. They have shared stages with various artist including Marlon Williams, The Phoenix Foundation, The Bats, Alok Vaid- Menon and Georgia Gets By (Broods).
Cello, Haz, and Georgette are all Cancer risings.
