Boy announce sophomore album "We Were Here"

Ten years after Valeska Steiner’s and Sonja Glass’ first encounter, sowing the seeds that would later grow into BOY, little has changed. Little, that is, apart from the small matter of tens of thousands of records sold, several years spent travelling the world, and a clutch of glittering awards. To meet them, however, you really wouldn’t know. Though they remain given to pensive moments of deliberation, they continue to finish each other’s sentences with a knowing, infectious chuckle, and, deep down, they’re still the same enthusiastic, charming, funny women they were when they released their debut album, Mutual Friends, in 2011.

There are many remarkable things about this charismatic duo, but the manner in which both women have kept their feet on the ground as their stars have ascended is endearingly refreshing. Their unpretentious but engaging nature is indicative of the music on WE WERE HERE, BOY’s long awaited second album, a short, sharp burst of delightful melodies, perfectly poised craft and mischievous grace.

When they finally returned at the end of the previous year from international expeditions to spread word of their music, they resolved to write a record that not only matched, but even eclipsed the ingenuous magic of their debut.

WE WERE HERE finds BOY spreading their wings, exploring new textures and musical approaches while remaining true to their aesthetic. Having formed two and a half years after their original meeting – once Steiner had left her native Zurich, Switzerland, to move to Hamburg, where Glass grew up – they spent a while finding their voice, driving in Steiner’s mother’s car to low key shows, wherever they could get them, before Groenland Records signed them in 2011. Within twelve months of Mutual Friends’ release, they were headlining Hamburg’s 4,000 capacity Stadtpark, and the next couple of years were spent performing songs like ‘Little Numbers’ and ‘This Is The Beginning’ to entranced audiences across the globe, earning praise from the likes of Rolling Stone, The New York Times and Filter, the latter of whom described them as “as bubbly and rosy-cheeked as any playful kid”.

While most bands might feel the weight of expectation as they faced that ‘difficult second album’, the only pressure that Steiner and Glass experienced was their inherent desire to progress. Their perfectionist streak, and love for small details, ensured that, on several songs, they experimented with different arrangements, and they consequently allowed themselves time “to find out how best to dress the songs," says Steiner. “The two of us were always working. We weren’t at the studio all the time, but we always wrote, then went to the studio for two or three weeks, then back to writing.” They travelled between Hamburg, Berlin, the German countryside and Italy, but though the album sounds more lavishly produced, the process wasn’t quite as glamorous as that sounds. “We feel very comfortable in small spaces where you can live and cook,” Steiner says, before Glass elaborates: “We take all our equipment with us and just rent a small flat.”

By early 2015, their meticulous approach had paid off. Every bit as delicious as Mutual Friends, WE WERE HERE is an album of renewed depth and sophistication that maintains all the qualities that first made BOY so special, with Glass’ ear for the emotional wrench of a subtle key change and her gift for an uncluttered arrangement suitably complemented by Steiner’s affectingly direct lyrics.

All of this ensures that WE WERE HERE not only confirms the reputation that BOY earned with Mutual Friends, but also further underlines their flair for an intimately detailed, precious songcraft that speaks to men and women, of men and women, about singular, yet universal, moments in our lives. Just as the album’s title track speaks of the wonders that existence can offer, and how cherishing life’s memories can keep the past alive, so it could almost be applied to BOY themselves, and the songs that they write. Of course, they’d be far too humble to agree, but nonetheless, as Steiner sings, “Our echoes resonate.”