In late 2022, the release of their debut album Cub saw singles ‘Purple’ and ‘Leader of the Pack’ dominate radio airwaves. Landmark performances filling Glastonbury’s Woodsies Tent (FKA John Peel Stage) and selling out London’s Kentish Town Forum months in advance were followed by tours with Pixies and Fontaines D.C., signaling the band’s arrival as one of the most prominent and exciting new guitar acts in the UK.
Starting life as the solo project of Jacob Slater in the summer of 2021, the raucous energy of his past as teenage frontman of London punks Dead Pretties found a new home. After burning out as quickly as they emerged in 2017, Slater took a step back from music and moved to Cornwall to pursue his love of surfing. It was there that the songs that made up Cub were written and Wunderhorse was born. A mammoth touring schedule followed the band’s debut in 2023.
Stages across Europe and the US saw them develop into a powerful live presence, with the album only gaining momentum and popularity in the year following its release. The relentlessness of the road also naturally brought the band closer together – joined by guitarist Harry Fowler, drummer Jamie Staples, and bassist Peter Woodin, Slater left the solo era of Wunderhorse behind. “The more we played together, the more everyone's personality started to become an intrinsic part of the music,” says Slater. “The sound is now just as much a part of who they are.” Staples cites “a growing emotional investment from everyone”, while Fowler believes the process of growing into a fully-formed band is “something that we all had to earn.”
With this new formation and steadfast trust in each other, Wunderhorse headed to Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, to embark on their first collaborative recording process. With Grammy Award-winning producer Craig Silvey (The Rolling Stones, The National, Florence + The Machine) on board, the band looked to do something different. Their goal – in the very same studio that Nirvana put In Utero to tape and PJ Harvey recorded the Mercury Prize-nominated Rid of Me – was to push themselves outside of their comfort zones.
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