Intimate and aching, poignant and bittersweet, REUNIØN’s sophomore single “Way Out West” is a dazzling love song drenched in heartache, grief, and hope.
for fans of Bon Iver, Coldplay, Novo Amor, SYML
Stream: “Way Out West” – REUNIØN
A rush of electro-acoustic instrumentation washes over the senses as REUNIØN get underway with their second single. Intimate and aching, poignant and bittersweet, “Way Out West” is a dazzling love song drenched in heartache and hope. Honest lyrics and an arresting soundscape make for an invigorating listening experience, setting up REUNIØN as an exciting new face that should be on everyone’s radar.
Backs turned to wards the ocean
Lose ourselves in the moment
From somebody else’s sunrise
Broken hearts are just wide open
See all the stars in the desert sky..
Maybe if we make it way out west
And start again
What if we go in way over hearts
Get out of our heads
Cos when we see the city lights just up ahead
Oh, back to a time when we were innocent
Maybe we’ll make it way out west..
baby we’ll make it way out west
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering the single and music video for “Way Out West,” the second song release from the UK’s REUNIØN. The London-based duo of producers Jon Green (James Bay, Aquilo, Linkin Park, Lady A) and Eliot James (Two Door Cinema Club, Noah & The Whale, Pêtr Aleksänder) – each of whom brings a clear wealth of talent and history to the table – REUNIØN debuted this April with the stirring track “out in the wild,” a 22, A Million-era Bon Iver-like track blending ethereal and atmospheric production with raw vocals and organic orchestral instrumentation. Fans of early Coldplay and newer electro-folk artists like SYML and Novo Amor will instantly fall for REUNIØN’s nuanced, tempered tapestry of sound.
““Way Out West” is a song about second chances, redemption and being brave,” REUNIØN’s Jon Green tells Atwood Magazine. “Eliot had this beautiful drone sound echoing and we just started weaving chords around it. The theme kind of just came about very naturally and fell out as we chatted through how it might look to try and make something work or to start again but in a different place, from a different perspective”.
Like its predecessor, “Way Out West” is a cinematic and expansive immersion of feeling that comes from and speaks to the heart. Jon Green’s vocals spill forth from a haunting wall of sound, basking in a mellow tenor as well as a simply stunning falsetto. With an impressive vocal range and the affectations to match, REUNIØN are well on their way to solidifying themselves as electro-folk / folktronica’s next best thing. They’ve certainly captured our attention.
We’ll see each other in different light
We’ll dream bigger on pacific time
From way high up in the mountains
Into the valley we’ll descend
Running jump blindfold across a waterfall..
Maybe if we make it way out west
And start again
What if we go in way over hearts
Get out of our heads
Cos when we see the city lights just up ahead
Can we go back to a time when we were innocent?
Maybe we’ll make it way out west..
baby we’ll make it way out west
Directed by Japanese-born artist and set designer Sonoko Obuchi, the “Way Out West” video weaves through a true love story filled with innocence, connection, and also pain.
“I spent my teen years in Fukuoka city, Japan,” Obuchi tells Atwood Magazine. “When I was 18, I decided to study art in London, pretty much at the same time I started dating him. He was the most charismatic and artistic individual that i have ever met and we fell in love straight away. Though we loved each other, I knew I was destined to come to London to study art at university. Being that age is something so intense and beautiful and that definitely shaped my life forever. When I listened to Way Out West for the first time, I didn’t try to understand the lyrics right away. My first language is Japanese and I find that if I focus my attention on understanding the English, I will be using my brain more than my heart. I FEEL the song with my soul rather than in my head.”
“It was a magical experience and this utterly beautiful song brought back memories of me and my boyfriend in high school. I have never had another experience like that in my life. I told Jon and Eliot of REUNIØN about this and my vision for the music video and they were happy for me to go ahead with it. At this point, I was listening to the music religiously and knew this song talks of a couple wanting to move to the west coast (west) to start again. They are looking back at the days when they were innocent and hoping they can go back to that. My vision was a girl meeting a boy and falling in love. The girl decides to move to London (west) to pursue her dream. This synchronised with my own story.”
“On our filming day, I prayed and thought of him and I wore a perfume I was wearing when I was 18. I felt I had the support from him making this animation. When I was drawing, I sometimes lost awareness of my surroundings, I was in the paper, and I was walking our love story with him together. Since his sudden death at age 21, I have been living with huge guilt and wondered why I am here enjoying my life while he is not here with us anymore. Drawing him was a way forward in my life, I finally felt I was ready to reflect on our love story, now age 38. And I finally felt I could say nice farewell to him. When I watched the finished film (Eliot did the most fantastic direction and editing), I cried non-stop. I thank REUNIØN to give me this opportunity to remember him this way for the first time.”
“Way Out West” is is an already stunning song, but Obuchi’s music video simply takes our breath away – it’s that extra layer of nuance that helps us connect REUNIØN’s music and lyrics to our own lives. We’ve all known love and we’ve all known loss, but grief is so much more than these two feelings combined. “Way Out West” finds a way to retain a shred of light in that darkest of dark spaces. It’s that wellspring of hope that someday, this beauty that is now no longer, will exist again.
Maybe there was no gold rush
No such thing as one true love
But there’s beauty in things we can’t touch
Maybe we can make it way out west
Find somewhere there’s no regret
Get to a place where we forget
The city lights they’re just up ahead
Maybe we can make it way out west
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Stream: “Way Out West” – REUNIØN
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