Onyda - Queen Of Duality

It’s hard for me to believe that I was putting on gigs in The Full Moon some ten years ago, where Shae Ukulele took to the stage and wowed the audience with renditions of Jack Johnson and Bob Marley. My own personal journey since that time has taken me from youthful vagabond with local bands inked on my pumps, crying cus i ‘just met the singer of Agent Blue in The Underground’ to actually running The Underground (let’s be honest, it runs me).

Since that show at The Full Moon, Shae has been on a journey of their own. Gone are the Jack Johnson covers and so to the ukulele, and following a short period of transformation the butterfly Onyda arose, guitar in hand, ridiculously intoxicating songs to boot. In an instant, Onyda had been hand picked to perform at Glastonbury on the BBC Introducing stage. Fast forward a little bit more and Onyda is now a fully functioning band ready to take on the world, and with Queen Of Duality it certainly suggests the band know just how powerful their music - and attitude - can be.

Queen Of Duality is in itself a journey, Onyda’s personal journey, the transformational period of finding just who they are in the world, and their place in it. But Onyda’s approach is refreshing, they’re not simply figuring out who they are, they’re grabbing the world with both hands and making their own decisions. And with the debut EP I think it’s safe to say we are all delighted with those decisions so far.

The EP features a collection of songs so finely crafted it is difficult to comprehend that it’s not a record made by a highly successful artist of twenty years experience. The subtleties and intricacies of Onyda’s lyrics hit a nerve with every sentence, while the soft music somehow hits so hard to give one goosebumps, while songs such as Like A Dog are written with so much modern relevance was the title Song Of The Week on BBC Introducing. The highest accolade I can give to Queen Of Duality is not in words, but rather in the action of an Underground staff member who, knowing she enjoys Onyda’s music, was asked if they would like to write this review. Their response told me everything I needed to know; ‘I would write a masterpiece of a review for Onyda, I’d just pull excerpts directly from my personal diary.’ For her own safety, and perhaps for Onyda’s we decided it best she didn’t write the review…

To say David Bowie might be impressed by the EP - and of course Onyda’s sense of style both musically and in fashion - might sound like an overstatement, but I’m not sure it is. Queen Of Duality is quite frankly a masterpiece in and of itself, a work crafted in Onyda’s own blood, sweat and tears, and living, breathing audio clip of Onyda’s journey as they navigate their way through this shitstorm of a world. Nobody has a map, if you follow Onyda, you might not feel so lost.

Onyda’s journey since that gig at The Full Moon has seen their music go from strength to unadulterated strength, and they met the singer from Agent Blue, too.