Wigan four-piece The Lathums’ new single ‘Oh My Love’ is an uplifting acoustic guitar driven track, inspired by lead vocalist Alex Moore’s experiences at the age of 16 when songwriting helped him get through a period of deep personal loss. It is the first music from the band since their four-track Ghosts EP, which was released in October 2020.
Moore started writing the song as a teenager, but he was unable to conclude it until a few years later. “I was only able to fully finish the lyrics after I met all you lovely people who are genuinely interested about me and the lads,” he tweeted on the day that the single was released. It is evidently an important song to him, and one which he has spent many years perfecting.
Similarities can be drawn between ‘Oh My Love’ and tracks from the band’s Ghosts EP. They have previously experimented with mellow-toned acoustic tracks, the most recent example being ‘All My Life’. However, ‘Oh My Love’ is a more upbeat tune, taking on a more similar tone to the jaunty ‘Corporation Street’.
Despite being written about a period of darkness and turmoil in Moore’s adolescence, you may not be able to identify this from first listen. Initially, it may seem like an ode to a loved one—as if he is speaking to someone else when he sings “If you want to be happy, then happy you will be, oh my love.” After repeated listens, it becomes more convincing that he is talking to his younger self.
Moore has transformed his negative experiences of the past into a song which celebrates how far he has come to get to where he is today. “It’s upbeat and happy, a complete juxtaposition to the starting point for the song when I was a hurting teenager,” he confirms.
The Lathums have teased their upcoming debut album in interviews and on their social media alike, and it seems likely that ‘Oh My Love’ will appear on the album, even though this hasn’t been explicitly confirmed yet by the band.
Words by Gemma Cockrell
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