Introducing: Not My Wife
Introducing: Not My Wife
With the release of their debut single Home Alone, London-based, New Zealand-formed five-piece Not My Wife—comprised of Olivia Mercer (vocals), Sophie Howe (keyboard), Andrew Roberts (bass), Cam Meads (drums), and Josef Shadwell (guitar)—deliver a sparkling introduction to a band that have spent the past 18 months honing their craft and building a strong fan base across London with sold out shows throughout the capital.
Produced by Sean Genockey (NewDad, Shame, The Black Crowes), inspired by the push and pull of a blurred relationship Home Alone pulses with restless energy, blending Olivia’s emotive vocals with shimmering synths and an immediate hook. With sonic nods to ’80s synth melancholy and their antipodean roots, the band set the tone for a run of single releases throughout 2026.
How would you describe your sound to someone hearing you for the first time?
“Considering it has taken 18 months to release our first single, you would think we would have had a lot of practice at answering this question. But it’s always hard to describe your own sound, because to us it really just feels like a blend of all our individual music tastes.
We take a lot of inspiration from indie surf rock bands from Australia and New Zealand, and try to mix that through 80s synth styles like The Cure and Kate Bush.
It’s eclectic indie rock, and we hope people come away listening to us with a sense of familiarity, but also that they have genuinely never heard anything like it before.”
When did this project start to feel like something substantial?
“We recorded Home Alone alongside a number of other tracks (which you’ll have to wait for!) over about a week and a half in the south of France. Writing and recording for 14 hours a day in a small cottage with producer Sean Genockey (NewDad, Shame) and engineer Jake Stainer (Wet Leg, David Gilmour) was a surreal experience. But it really hit us on the flight back to London, listening to the first mixes, that our ideas had materialised into something that we and hopefully others would understand.“
Do you find themes returning in the writing process, even unintentionally?
“Yes we definitely find this! Speaking as the lyricist, there have always been themes that I gravitate towards naturally (which is also mirrored in my personal taste for music, films, books etc). But what is fun about being in a band, is that the majority of the time, I am writing over a piece of guitar or piano that someone else has written. So now my job is to link the feeling of the music to something I can relate to personally, and tell a story that fits. For me those themes usually come from mundane snippets of life that might represent something greater, or hold the same quality I can feel in the music.”
How has your environment—your city, scene, or isolation—shaped your sound?
“It's massively shaped our sound. We began writing together when some of us were fresh off the plane from NZ, and our sound was originally indicative of that, with a heavy surf rock influence. But the longer we’ve lived in London, the grittier sound of this city has definitely made its way into our music.
When recording Home Alone, we were lucky enough to set up camp in a secluded French village. Some days fog would swallow the whole house like a scene out of a French horror film, whereas on others we'd have clear blue skies and filtered coffee. Home Alone is a blend of those moods: haunting, with harmonic motifs and eerie synths, paired with an aggressive, urgent rhythm that hits you between the eyes.”
What does your live show offer that listeners won’t get from the recordings?
“We're really lucky to have a devoted set of fans who really make us feel like the biggest band in the world, whether we’re playing to 50 people or 500 people. Matching their energy is really important to us, and we focus a lot into putting on a show that brings the cinematic elements from our recordings to the stage.”
Home Alone: is available now on digital platforms here.
