The days are getting colder, the nights are getting longer, and Wasia Project are inviting listeners to step into their personal nocturnal atmosphere with their debut album, Nocturne. Compiling 12 tracks into one work, Nocturne is exactly as it sounds: an ode to the time of day that brings about thoughts of longing, loneliness, personal interrogation, and freedom. Brother and sister duo Olivia Hardy and William Gao make up the two faces of Wasia Project. After debuting in 2019, they have flowed through and explored genres while creating a name for themselves as a pair that produces emotionally intelligent and transcendent lyrics. Nocturne is the epitome of this sentiment.
As dawn rose for EnVi, the day was nearing noon for Wasia Project when Hardy and Gao popped onto a Zoom call to talk about everything Nocturne. Though sitting in separate rooms, they instantly proved their charismatic bond by finishing each other’s sentences and allowing the other to speak their mind freely.
Creating A Constellation
The album’s tracklist starts with “2515,” but it was also the catalyst for Nocturne’s anticipation as the first pre-release track. The single has a sense of techno influence and could easily be played in a club late at night, though the lyrics are thought-provoking and personal. Sonically, it was unlike anything Wasia Project had ever released at the time, but it hinted at what sound they would be exploring in the upcoming project. As it happens, “2515” was also the first song made for the album, so it felt natural for it to be the first track listeners heard as well.
“It really sets an intention on the album. Compared to the other songs, it really makes it clear the direction, the night, and the sonic palette we’re about to enter. So, that felt quite obvious. And then the other three — ‘Vogue,’ ‘Whale Call,’ and ‘Bleeding Gold’ — they felt pretty clear to release those four,” Gao explained, a crease between his brows. “I think they kind of set out the initial sketch of the wider project. [It’s like] iIf it was four major stars in the galaxy and then it’s like suddenly all of them can flood in. [The album’s beginning]It sets a kind of scope of what you’re in for. ‘Whale Call, ‘Bleeding Gold,’ and ‘2515’ were early songs in the process, so they felt fitting to come out first.”
These four songs create distinct highs and lows. From “2515” to “Vogue,” the singer moves through their relationship, being pushed or pulled as the other person wants to pick them up or toss them to the side. Ultimately, the fall has to be felt and lived in. This results in “Whale Call,” a plea to be heard in the darkness and for distorted thoughts to finally make sense. Then, night soon becomes day with “Bleeding Gold.”
Bringing Voice To The Narrative
In the music video for “Bleeding Gold,” both Hardy and Gao run through empty buildings and schoolyards, while clips show sand, just like time, slipping through their fingers. Running with nowhere to go, the two eventually return where their hearts lead them: home. While in this track, the listener hears the phrase, “Back again, right back again,” enthusiastically repeated, the song soon slides into the solemn “Voices In My Head.”
The new track quickly juxtaposes the prior mood and mirrors the lyrics, now singing, “And I’m right back, right back, right back where I started / Oh, won’t you bring back, bring back, bring back where my heart is?” This leaves the new question lingering: did they return or did they go backwards?
As the listener moves through Nocturne, more voices arise, including that of William Gao. While Gao sang on their previous track “To Get Better,” he typically doesn’t sing at all, though he is a primary writer on most songs. But as “Voices In My Head” moves into “Even If I Tried,” suddenly and surprisingly, Gao joins in.
“I think as time has gone on, there are songs that I have written, for example, ‘Voices In My Head’ I brought in with lyrics, and Olivia still sings it. So, I think for this album there was a sense of, ‘Oh, for this album, I’ll sing one or two of them,’” Gao explained. “Then, it just came through naturally which song I’d sing.”
Quickly, Hardy added, “I do hope, though, that going forward it’s a bit more of that. I like ‘To Get Better’ when William brought that in; it was very personal. So, it’s also if I can’t resonate with it on a certain level or if I think, ‘This is just so like you, you have to sing this.’” For Hardy, to sing a song means to completely understand the sentiment behind it. Whether she writes a song or brings it to life through recording it, if she doesn’t fully resonate with the message, it feels as if there is no point.
In response to his sister’s comment, Gao continued, “Also, weirdly, when I write a melody, sometimes I’ll write early and then already, at the core and source of writing it, I’m like, ‘Oh, I could hear Olivia singing that.’ That happens most of the time. But then sometimes, for example, ‘To Get Better,’ the melody is really all over the place in a lot of ways, and it is suited more to my voice. I don’t know how to describe it, but it really depends on the song and what fits best for the song.”
The Moon And The Myths
The night invites the stars. The stars form constellations. These groupings bring about different stories and legends. These sometimes-eerie-and-most-times-grand tales shine through in songs like “Sunken Quay” and “Moon Goddess.” The latter built on the story of Chang’e, the Chinese moon goddess, who is now celebrated during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Neither singer offers their voices for the song. Instead, the sole focus is on the instrumentals as they tell the goddess’s story. When asked what track has the most compelling story, Hardy began to choose “Moon Goddess,” but quickly pivoted to “Sunken Quay.”
“I feel like the meaning of it is really lost in the lyrics, but it is all about the liminal. A ‘quay’ is a harbor that’s submerged in water and is half in, half out. To me, when that was being written, it felt very existential,” Olivia said softly. “I see that song being about death, what is beyond it, and being in this purgatory in these places. I think that is a reference for a lot of other things across the album. We talk about liminal space a lot, being cross-cultural, or the in-between of night and day.”
Her favorite line, possibly out of the entire album, comes in the second verse before the pre-chorus. She sings, “There’s a dark riverbed underneath every sun / On a path straight to the end.” The song feels like floating down the River Styx, possibly toward death or to something else.
Ideas and mythological stories like these continue in the songs “Strike Me Down From Heaven,” a personal favorite of Gao’s, and the later song, “Nightingale,” another one of Hardy’s favorites. However, “Nightingale” wasn’t originally as obvious a choice for Nocturne. While Hardy loved it and resonated with it deeply, Gao felt it never fully reached the point it was trying to make. In the end, it made its way into the final collection, and stands as a song that those lost in their quarter-life crises may resonate with.
“Because of its lack of conciseness in terms of what it was talking about, to me, that feeling is so special. It is the feeling of not knowing what you’re feeling. I feel that so much, like all the time. Especially at this time in my life,” Hardy reminisced. “It’s like knowing in your gut that something feels like you are not happy with it, but finding it so hard to articulate what that is and not wanting to discover that, but knowing you have to really think about it. It’s kind of connected with time and watching time change everything around you and everything you’ve ever known.”
The Sun Rises
Time keeps moving. Nocturne is inspired by many stories from eons ago and one day will be a source of inspiration for someone else. Though right now, the album is a statement of Wasia Project’s growth as artists as well as their declaration to the world of being ready for more. Nocturne is the light that is found in the dark night, the hope that humans have for a better, clearer tomorrow.
Live audiences across the UK, Europe, and North America will soon get to experience Nocturne together. The album tour is set to start in early November and end in late March.
With a bright smile, Hardy thought about the tour, saying, “The way some of these songs feel when we play them live, they feel like they were made to be live […] We’ve talked so much about this album and wanting to connect. I think a lot of it inherently does that, but it’s just going to be fun. It’s going to be worth it. We put a lot of thought and effort into every shade of what a show is.”
Audiences will soon experience this culmination of midnight thoughts and stories live, and both Hardy and Gao remarked that it isn’t a show to be missed, especially with the late-night vibes perfectly at their peak.
Until then, you can stream Nocturne on Spotify and Apple Music, and Wasia Project can be found on Instagram and TikTok. Also, make sure to keep up with the duo over on their YouTube channel.
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