WARD Thomas could tell that change was afoot from the moment they wrote ‘Cartwheels’, now the punch-to-the-stomach title track of their sensational second album.
Straight away the sisters knew the song was special. Whenever they performed it live, they felt an intense connection to the crowd. When they sang it at London’s O2 Arena, fans hearing it for the first time fell silent.
“There’s a pause in the song during which you could have heard a pin drop,” says Lizzy, the blonde half of the Hampshire duo who were barely out of their teens when they became country crossover stars. “I watched the faces of fans, women mostly, and knew they felt the vulnerability of the lyrics. It was a magical moment.”
Cartwheels tells the sad tale of someone who refuses to accept that a relationship is over, who longs to be noticed, but is only ignored, who “bends so we won’t break”.
It’s both heartbreakingly sad and sonically beautiful, a gut-wrenching tear-jerker whose stripped-back sound leaves nowhere to hide.
“All of our lyrics are personal,” says co-vocalist Catherine, “but Cartwheels was the most brutally honest we’d ever been. No one wants to admit they’re that needy, that they’re prepared to do anything to save a relationship they know deep down is broken. Being able to share those emotions with an audience is incredibly powerful.”
Cartwheels was written two years ago, at a session in Nashville during the campaign for 2014’s ‘From Where We Stand’, the duo’s unexpectedly successful debut album.
After a debut EP caught the ears of some of country music’s biggest stars, among them 20 times Grammy Award winner Vince Gill, From Where We Stand was completed and recorded in Nashville, but remained distinctively British.
Its follow-up has roots in the country music capital, but only insofar as it was where Ward Thomas clicked with their current co-writers – Brit Jessica Sharman and Rebekah Powell, the Nashville-bred daughter of revered hitmaker Monty Powell. With Cartwheels written, Ward Thomas returned to Britain, where their songs were all over the radio and where they spent much of next 18 months on tour.
The remainder of the new album was written and recorded in London, produced largely by Martin Terefe (KT Tunstall, Jason Mraz, Shawn Mendes), and partly by Jimmy Hogarth (Amy Winehouse, Paolo Nutini, Sia). Cartwheels wasn’t just the first track in the bag, it inspired what was to follow.
Ward Thomas are Live at The Sugar Club on Thursday, November 3.
