Wah Wah 45s ease you into 2026 with a deeply uplifting and sonically satisfying slice of folk- and Americana-tinged acoustic soul from exciting new signings to the label, Him & Earl. “Bottled Up” is the first single to be unveiled from the duo’s upcoming debut album.
Singer-songwriter Olly Him and DJ, producer and composer Wyndham Earl both have deeply-dug roots in the south coast of England, with the former making his name as a solo artist before exploring his soulful folk sound with a number of live acts, and the latter collaborating on albums and sharing stages with Bonobo, Khruangbin, Alice Russell and TM Juke, having remixes released by Tru Thoughts and Mr Bongo Records, and releasing his solo projects on his Time Spun imprint.
The pair first met in 2015 when Wyndham produced some songs for now defunct hypnotic Afro-folk outfit Creatures Of The Deep, of which Olly was a founder member. They instantly clicked, but after the group broke up it wasn’t until some years later that serendipity brought them back together. A chance encounter at a gig led the duo to reignite their fire for working together, and they began to hatch plans to make a full album under the name of Him & Earl with Olly writing the songs and Wyndham arranging and producing the project.
With its sonorous yet strangely uplifting and mellifluous feel, their forthcoming full-length debut, entitled Falling Backwards, is a mystic brew of desert blues, English folk, Americana and stirring southern soul, with tentacles stretching out into psychedelia and prog.
The first single to be lifted from the album, Bottled Up is a familiar tale of the frustrations of everyday life conveyed sweetly yet honestly by Olly’s sublime vocals, as the man himself explains:
“This is about the difficulty in communicating in relationships and navigating this, and why it becomes easier to keep things quiet (‘bottled up’) than talking or confronting things. It is about how sometimes it is better to leave things behind, but sometimes things eat away at you and lead you back to the same places again and the problems caused by this.”
Undulating finger-picked guitar underpins a rich sonic palette that gradually expands in all directions, with earthy clarinet counter-melodies and celestial murmurations of delicately plucked strings.
At the debut Him & Earl live show in late January, Olly and Wyndham’s fittingly modest expectations for this step into the unknown were immediately blown out of the water as the five-piece band went toe to toe with a sellout crowd of eager music fans. That sweaty room full of happy faces on a cold January night – throwing shapes to the live percussion showdowns, losing themselves in the psychedelic guitar and bass wig-outs, and singing along to the choruses of songs that they’d never heard a note of before – bodes well for some exciting times ahead for Him & Earl.
The Falling Backwards album will be released 26th June 2026 on vinyl LP, digital download and streaming.
Credits
Olly Him : Vocals / Guitars
Wyndham Earl : Bass Guitar / Percussion
Jack Baker : Drums
Toma Sapir : Percussion
Emma Gatrill : Clarinet
Marcus Hamblett : Cornet
Cleo Savva : Trumpet
Jo Gardner : Violin
Reactions & Radio Play
Radio support from Colleen Cosmo Murphy (Balearic Breakfast), Jon Kennedy (Radio X), James Endicott (Track Of The Day, Soho Radio) Danny Webb’s World Wireless (1BTN)
Qobuz Track Of The Day (19/02/26)
Last Day Deaf: https://lastdaydeaf.com/listening-now-him-earl-bottled-up/
Featured on Playlist Picasso’s Slow Indie playlist
“Music to go on a trip! Yes!” DJ Soulist (Souleance, France)
“Lovely tune !!” Jazzcat (Ness Radio, Italy)
“Nice!” For Mankind (Pikes, Ibiza)
“BEAUTIFUL! FULL SUPPORT!” Thiago Santos (Radio Oxigenio, Portugal)
“A lovely song that makes me curious about the upcoming album.” Sven Thomschke (Radio Z 95.8FM, Germany)
“Very nice!” Robert Lochmann (Radio X, Germany)
“Beautiful!” DJ Keyser (Tilos Radio 90.3FM, Hungary)
“Sweet!” Enrique Domenech (CKUT 90.3FM, Canada)
“Tout en douceur.” Veronique Prebolin (Radio Krimi, France)
“A beautiful, soulful piece, and Olly’s vocals are just sublime…it’s absolutely perfect for Radio Broussaille.” Laurent (Radio Broussaille, France)
“This is so cool.” Rado Tomek (NuSpirit, Slovakia)
“Full support.” Michael Stukes (WHCR 90.3 FM, USA)
“Very nice and flowy start to 2026 for the label .. like!” Raj Selli (Solar Radio, UK)
“Brilliant stuff.” Aldo Vanucci (Brooklyn Radio / Various, Plymouth)
“Nice!!!” Markus Milz (Radio Corax 95.9FM, Germany)
“Gorgeous…” Dob Marzov (Radio Varna National Radio, Bulgaria)
“A surprise… lovely on a sunny day here!” Mark Ward (Sideways Through Sound, UK)
“Timeless, moving and such a classic feel.” DJ Mr Lob (Various, Melbourne, Australia)
“Brilliant live and great to hear their studio work. High hopes for these guys.” Steve KIW (1BTN, UK)
“Playlisté sur les ondes de Diggers Radio, un track qui annonce un album prometteur, on aime ce côté folk planant, ce jeu de voix, et cette guitare qui tourne et nous emporte.” Diggers Radio (Albi, France)
“Really nice vibe! Will play on WRUV-FM!” Jay Paul (WRUV-FM, USA)
“LOVE this, more suited to my desire to calm down 🙂 I shall look forward to the LP.” Pete Isaac (Jelly Jazz, UK)
“Nice one.” Tjerk Coers (Armada Music, Netherlands)
“Smoothy, jazzy, poppy, all what i love.” Amar Kabouche (Fauve Radio, Hong Kong)
“Definite grower. Greeat arrangement.” DJ Expression (What’s Hot Radio, UK)
“Lovely…will play on Loose FM.” Cal Gibson (Loose FM, UK)
“We seem to be going through a bit of a revival of the late 60s/early 70s Wesco scene at the moment. This tune definitely sits well within that genre, with the instrumentation, drifting chords, ethereal vocal and hard-to-discern lyric.” Drummie Dave (York, UK)
“Perfect soul-folk for the Chilled Cider crew.” Gerry Hectic (You And The Music, UK)
