GOODBYE WUDAOKOU tease upcoming album with New Order tinged single ‘Only Questions’
NORTH Manchester’s reassuringly unassuming – yet hugely talented – Mathew Mills and his GOODBYE WUDAOKOU project unveils ‘Only Questions,’ the first single and video from upcoming ‘Anything Of Us’ album released August 24 via Subjangle.
Reference points are many and varied. Imagine New Order era ‘Get Ready’ complemented by a gorgeous Robert Smith chimey-vibe, with a hint of John McGeoch’s aggression – a heady blend of the melancholy and the feisty.
“It’s funny, I do tend to get a lot of New Order comparisons, which I’m definitely very happy to embrace, though it always surprises me,” said Mills. “However, ‘Only Questions’ is a fuzzy, jangly pop song about being on the cusp of love, about it all going wrong and the benefit of hindsight. Sonically, it sits somewhere between ‘The Pains of Being Pure at Heart,’ ‘Sonic Youth’ – and yes, New Order.”
‘Goodbye Wudaokou’ refers to the Beijing suburb where Mills resided in 2012, a lively, international, student-centred area, a somewhat transitory district. In a sense, the name a literal farewell to somewhere Mills retains a affection for, but a name also symbolising a goodbye to one’s adolescence.
“It’s just me in ‘Goodbye Wudaokou,’ and I’ve written songs since picking up the guitar when I was eleven,” added Mills. “And that’s what it’s always been about, the almost urgent need to create a song, to put love, pain, the complexities and things you can’t really express any other way into music.
“Things were a bit tough growing up and writing music became a way out. And while the context has changed much for the better that still holds for me – that music is both a way to express my deepest feelings and an escape from reality.
“Maybe that’s why ‘Goodbye Wudaokou’ emerged properly during lockdown, a time when everyone was looking for some sort of escape, or maybe it allowed me to reassess what was missing – or both. While it’s true I’ve always written and played music, the frequency with which I was doing that languished over time and I feared that would become a part of a life I looked back to, rather than something that is intrinsic to who I am.”
“I did some solo gigs in the early 2000s but then went to live in China – and later Ireland – for a few years, and I guess any sense of trying make music that somebody else might hear could have ended then. Thankfully that wasn’t the case, and I released my debut album Mirror Skies, in 2024.
“But this new album is janglier, poppier and a bit grittier than the first one, mixing indie pop melodies with touches of shoegaze and ‘90s indie rock. I think the theme of the album might be the different types of love we experience throughout our lives – that immediate fizzy love many of us experience as teenagers, the love that lives and dies in a moment, and the more complex love that grows, changes and possibly constrains us, as well as the longing and grief for love that can’t be recaptured – or is it just the moment in time?”
‘Only Questions’ features backing vocals by Desiree Xu, and was mastered by Ben Holton (Epic 45).
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How do you get your music featured on the site? Easy. Make me feel the love for it. Nothing more, nothing less. Just like Goodbye Wudaokou’s ‘Only Questions.’
