Wasia Project Catches Us Up to Their Coming of Age With ‘Nocturne’

Manila is part of a new chapter for Wasia Project. The British indie pop duo, consisting of siblings Will Gao and Olivia Hardy, arrived in the Philippines fresh from Berlin to bring their intimate Piano Show to a new audience at Teatrino Promenade on June 23. The Manila stop comes ahead of Wasia Project’s upcoming debut album, Nocturne, to be released on September 18.

“It was so nice to play our first show here,” Will tells Rolling Stone Philippines. He and Olivia also recalled visiting Cubao Expo, where they got to try the food at the Chinese restaurant Best of Luck.

Since forming in 2019, the duo has built a devoted following through their delicate blend of indie pop and jazz. After releasing their first song “Why Don’t U Love Me” that year, Wasia Project brought more listeners into their world through their debut EP how can i pretend? in 2022, followed by their sophomore EP Isotope in 2024. And with Nocturne, the siblings are exploring new sounds.

The album rollout began on April 1 with “2515,” a track that sees the duo venture into deep electronic pop, followed on May 11 by “Bleeding Gold,” which would sound more familiar to longtime fans.

“It was kind of instinctual,” Olivia says of their lead single. “We’d grown so much as young adults, from the ages of 18 to 21 for me and 20 to 23 for Will. Every year, there’s a massive change in identity.”

When asked about their influences for the new album, the Hardy siblings named Radiohead, Massive Attack, Beach House, and Weyes Blood. “As you go deeper, as they’ve moved on and grown older, the music just gets more interesting and layered,” Will says of the evolution that these artists have gone through, and which has inspired Wasia Project’s latest work.

In this interview with Rolling Stone Philippines, Will and Olivia of Wasia Project talk about their first Manila show, making music together as siblings, and what they hope fans will learn about them from Nocturne.

What do you guys enjoy about doing intimate shows?

Olivia: I mean, it’s definitely one of my favorites. I think I can speak for both of us. It’s just very connecting. I said yesterday on the show, it’s kind of an insight into the process of how we write, or how the music originally sounds. And I think that’s really special because it’s just the song. I love doing smaller venues because it’s — I don’t know — you just connect more with people, especially as an audience member.

You guys are going back on tour after you release the album. What are you most excited about?

Olivia: Bringing the show. Bringing the whole show. We found a video yesterday of the first gig we ever did, and [in it] we’re low-key playing the same songs. We love all the songs on our discography, but I feel like it’s been a while since there’s been a lot of new songs. So, can’t wait to just play new music.

Whenever you go on tour, do you ever have time to just see the city, or are you flying in and out?

Will: It depends. Depends on what we’re doing and what we’re playing like. For this tour, we’ve been able to hang out. We’ve really been able to hang out. Two nights ago, we hung out in Cubao Expo, which is a cool area. We had a great time there.

Olivia: And great food.

Will: We had Best of Luck.

What inspired you guys to start making music together back in 2019?

Will: Home was always a very creative space. And I think it kind of came naturally, being free to do what we wanted and what we felt like doing. I think music was like an outlet, and we kind of followed it and followed what songwriting was. And we’d both done a lot of music growing up. There was no official thing; it was more just, you follow the music and be like, “Where does that go? Where does that path lead to?” And it’s led us here.

What have you guys learned from each other about making music since you started Wasia Project?

Olivia: So many things.

Will: I think we’re constantly learning, constantly inspired by each other.

Olivia: We both work very hard in different ways. I’m a very big perfectionist, so I think that limits me sometimes from just going along. And I tend to hold on to things that I don’t think are ready yet, which is also a skill in itself, and it’s important to do, but it’s like a balance. And I feel like you [Will] have always, since we were very young, been like, “It’s just about putting it out there and consistency.” Consistency is really important, and you just have to keep trying. And even if it’s not how you wanted it to turn out, just keep putting it out there.

Will: Getting a piece of work to a specific place, that’s what I’ve learned [from Olivia]. Also, learning how to be a human, how to be a good colleague, and how to be a good person.

What do you like the most about working together?

Will: It can be very efficient at its best. It’s very efficient and really fast. It can roll. And that’s a real advantage that we have.

Olivia: It’s also a good bit silly. I feel like the sibling thing allows you to not take things too seriously.

I want to talk about your new music. “2515” is unlike anything we’ve heard from you guys before. I think the closest you’ve gotten to it is “Isotope,” but what inspired you to take a deep electronic direction as opposed to your usual light-hearted indie-jazz-pop sound?

Olivia: It was kind of instinctual. Off the back of the Isotope tour, we’d been touring for so long again with the old music — which we technically are still doing a lot of — but the urge instinctually, because we’d grown so much as young adults, from the ages of 18 to 21 for me and 20 to 23 for Will. Every year, there’s a massive change in identity. After two or three years, it felt like we needed to catch people up to where we were at the moment.

Our instincts were leading in very dark and just bolder directions. We tested the waters, like you said, in “Isotope,” experimented with darker sounds, but this was like, we want to do this thing, let’s push it all the way and let’s take it to the max. And “2515” was the first song we made, and it kind of set an ethos for the album where it was like, go bold, go big. Just follow an instinct all the way.

Will: Also, we don’t want to always be making the same kind of music. I think that’s so boring and I wouldn’t want to do that my whole life. Experimenting with different sounds and new types of work is what makes being an artist great.

Were you guys listening to any other artists during the making of Nocturne? What or who were your influences?

Will: There’s a whole bunch, because it took us a whole year to properly make this album. So a year’s worth of what we were listening to is a lot. When you asked the question, Radiohead came up for me. Massive Attack. Trip hop in general.

Olivia: Beach House, kind of dream pop.

Will: Weyes Blood.

Olivia: She’s so good. She’s very formative in our journeys.

Will: One of her songs, “God Turn Me Into A Flower,” whenever I listen to that, if I’m feeling anxious, all the anxiety just goes.

I also think what combines those artists is that feeling that they’re not going to play a game in the sense that they’re going to keep repeating themselves. Radiohead, all their albums have something about them. As you go deeper, as they’ve moved on and grown older, the music just gets more interesting and layered.

Olivia: I think growth is a big word for all of those artists as well. You’re referencing their albums or their career trajectories. They do their own thing, and that’s cool.

What do you guys hope to reveal about yourselves or Wasia Project through Nocturne?

Olivia: Taste, in how we are now, the evolution of how we’ve grown. I hope people appreciate it sonically because we put a lot of work into both the writing and the sonics, and I think we’ve worked really hard to encapsulate a world that feels like something we both resonate with and want to express. I think the album kind of speaks for itself in our taste and how we collaborate as well.

Will: I feel this is just a shift. We’ll see. But I’m really proud of it, and I think it’s lit.

Pie Gonzaga

Social Issues Writer

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