The Wombats have announced they will host a special album listening party at the SEA LIFE London Aquarium on February 8th, six days ahead of the release of their highly anticipated sixth studio album, Oh! The Ocean, due out via AWAL Recordings. Fans will have the chance to experience the album in the heart of the aquarium’s Open Ocean zone, where they can marvel at Green Sea Turtles, Stingrays, and even a Zebra Shark. Tickets for the event are available now.
Catherine Pritchard, General Manager at SEA LIFE London Aquarium, shared her excitement: “We’re thrilled to welcome The Wombats to our venue for this unique album listening event. At SEA LIFE, we know just how inspiring the ocean can be, and we hope that Oh! The Ocean will encourage fans to explore the wonders of marine life and the importance of protecting our oceans.”
Following the success of their UK #1 album Fix Yourself Not The World, The Wombats are back with an album that promises even greater things. Oh! The Ocean captures the raw emotional honesty and cathartic energy that have made the band’s music so relatable to their ever-expanding fanbase, combining introspective lyrics with catchy, playful melodies.
The band spent six weeks in Echo Park, LA, during the summer of 2024, working with acclaimed producer John Congleton (known for his work with St. Vincent, Wallows, and Death Cab for Cutie) to create their most sonically bold album to date. The album’s title draws inspiration from a transformative trip to the beach taken by lead singer Murph during a family holiday.
“I’ve visited beaches and coastlines many times, but this time felt like the first. I had this profound realisation that I’d been living life with my head in the clouds or in a kind of autopilot. For the first time, I truly saw the world around me and felt humbled. I had been so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I hadn’t stopped to appreciate the beauty in the world and in others. The album explores some of these questions: why do I feel disconnected from my body? Why am I sometimes blind to the beauty around me? Why do I expect the world to meet my expectations? Why don’t I take time to just enjoy life?”
Murph
The Wombats are set to embark on their largest UK Arena Tour next month, starting in Nottingham on March 18th before visiting cities such as London, Cardiff, Manchester, Hull, Glasgow, and Leeds.
The band will also play 14 dates across France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Luxembourg, and Belgium. Additionally, they will headline a huge homecoming show at Liverpool’s On The Waterfront on June 19th.
Having emerged as one of the leading bands of the late-2000s indie rock scene with their debut album A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation in 2007, Murph, bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen, and drummer Dan Haggis have continued to enjoy a meteoric rise.
Their 2011 album This Modern Glitch earned them regular spots in the UK Top Ten, while their 2015 release Glitterbug resonated with the TikTok generation, thanks to the viral success of ‘Greek Tragedy.’ By the time of their 2018 album Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life, they had already begun filling arenas, and their 2022 release Fix Yourself, Not the World marked their first Number One album, surpassing 2.5 billion streams. The band’s live shows, including headlining sets at Crystal Palace and The O2, capped off a record-breaking tour cycle that saw them play arenas across the globe and culminated in their headline performance at Reading 2024, where they took the stage in front of an ecstatic crowd of 18-24-year-olds – their core audience, even after two decades of success.
With a renewed sense of perspective, Oh! The Ocean marks the beginning of a new chapter for The Wombats, as they embrace a more mature sound and continue their unstoppable momentum.
- Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come
- Can’t Say No
- Blood On The Hospital Floor
- Kate Moss
- Gut Punch
- My Head Is Not My Friend
- I Love America And She Hates Me
- The World’s Not Out To Get Me, I Am
- Grim Reaper
- Reality Is A Wild Ride
- Swerve (101)
- Lobster
