Interview: Oracle Sisters at Tramlines 2025
Image Credit: Arabella Wright
Eszter Vida interviews Paris-based Oracle Sisters after their stunning mainstage set on the opening day of Sheffield’s Tramlines Festival 2025.
Oracle, n. III.8.a.1579–
A person of great wisdom or knowledge, whose opinions or decisions are generally accepted; an authority believed or claiming to be infallible. (Oxford English Dictionary)
In what way can music be an oracle? Is it an enchanting temptress, unveiling your fate within every cadence or the lyrical guidance a band leaves behind as mysterious footprints to follow through each listen? One thing is certain: the prophecy foretells that on the opening day of Tramlines, Oracle Sisters will deliver a star-studded set at Hillsborough Park, and share their story with our publication, enjoying a refrigerated can of Guinness against the glorious backdrop of Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium interior. In their Dylan-esque mystique, I didn’t predict their kindness in offering me a can of my own from their rider at the start of our brief time together.
Though based in Paris, the band’s coming-of-age stands as testament to their identity as global citizens of the cosmos; rooted everywhere, belonging nowhere but together. Having relocated to Paris to honour their roots as childhood friends, Lewis Lazar (previously Lewis Lazar and the Hydras) and Christopher Willatt rekindled their music partnership after travelling and making music all over Europe independently.
‘We moved to Paris because we wanted to honour the songwriting connection we had as kids. That was the birth of Oracle Sisters. We didn’t know what we were going to do but it was more about the commitment of ending up in the same place, writing songs and taking it as far as we can.’
If the coming together of multi-instrumentalist school mates Lewis Lazar and Christopher Willatt formed the skeletal backbone of their unrealised ideas, the subsequent meeting of Julia Johansen became the beating heart that breathed warmth and depth into the project, transforming it from a compelling collaboration into a fully realized sonic identity. Their image of mystique is one they subscribe to with a healthy balance of cynicism and human coincidence.
There were many small, fatuous moments linking the members together, including Jodorowsky’s Psycho Magic being a book Lazar and Willatt recommended to each other in the studio, only for Johansen to later meet Lazar at the author’s book signing through some strange alignment. ‘You can’t do it without a bit of joking too. We’ve given each other superhero names.’
Their new album Divinations (2025) is the sonic portrait of their friendship, having written the album as a trio for the first time.
Nomadic and raw, the album was recorded after a year of touring: ‘The album was born in the midst of winter when we are all locked down in a house together, out in the middle of nowhere in France. We like to cook while we write and record, we did that with our first album. We started writing together and cooking. It’s a really good way of getting into a certain flow. We wrote 60% of the album there, demoed it and then recorded it live.’
With this fresh approach, there were changes made to their recording approaches equally: ‘We wanted to write something a bit more direct. We switched instruments up, we kind of experimented with drum machines.’
Divinely different, they express the excitement of releasing and touring with the new record, noting that ‘people still say “oh it’s such a dreamy record’ but to us it felt more abrasive, especially compared to the record before. It was exciting to make. Something a bit more dynamic and something we could play faster on stage.’ Afterall, the album is a healthy meeting of both introspection and letting go on stage.
Illuminant on a lineup curated by Sheffield’s own Britpop heroes Pulp, today marked the band’s debut Sheffield performance, having skipped the Steel City on the promotion of their sophomore album Divinations (2025) on their European tour just passed. There’s a sense of surrender to the arresting sunbeams that caught us all in the scorching hot July afternoon, and you could see their carefree spirit on stage, with Lewis Lazar, Julia Johansen and Christopher Willatt playing guitar together, respectively.
Together, they radiate community within music, something you can listen to no matter where you are, a time capsule of the constant, of universal human experience, lifting the band out of any previously faced constraints to another world, both physically and sonically.
Words by Eszter Vida