Two Ways Home Talk New Album, Their Voices And More
Words by Glenn Sargeant
Feature Image Photo Credit: Supplied By Lime Tree Music
UK based Anglo-Austrian duo Two Ways Home have released their independent new album ‘Patience To Play’, out now. We chatted to them:
Who is in Two Ways Home, how did you meet and what do you play?
Isi: We are Lewis from Gloucestershire, UK and Isi from Vienna, Austria, we met when Lewis auditioned for my band many years ago and then after everyone else in the band decided to disperse after university we started writing songs and they emerged a little bit country, a little bit rock and a little bit folk. Now we always say we are: Folk-Rock with a Country Twist. Our music focuses strongly on harmonies and we have been compared to acts like Lady A, Fleetwood Mac and The Lumineers.
What is your earliest musical memory?
Isi: Singing in the car with my grandparents!
Lewis: Watching my dad play in bands when I was very young.
When did you begin songwriting?
Isi: I wrote my first song around 14 but I never finished it as I was adamant that the chorus was not supposed to have the same chords as the verse. After this experience I only really started writing and finishing songs once I went to university.
Lewis : I wrote my first songs when I was part of a rock band at 14, not sure how good we were, but we certainly had lots of energy.
You have your sophomore album ‘Patience To Play’ released on 17th April 2026. How did you want to approach the making of the album?
Isi: With this album we wrote all the songs independently from each other. It’s a bit of an accumulation of songs we have released over the last few years and then a few new ones which completed the album. In comparison to our first album we actually wrote most of these songs by ourselves, there are only 2 co-writes on this album and Lewis produced and mixed the whole album except: Medicine Man (mixed by Jake Stanton) and Slower Kind of Love (mixed by Jules Gulon).
Where did you record the album and who produced it?
Lewis : The album was produced mainly by me, Isi also had significant input but I played most of the instruments and also programmed many of the drum patterns. It was recorded at our studio Summerland Studios in west London.
Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the recording sessions?
Isi: We actually recorded Colder Water at least 5 times until we finally settled on this version. Sometimes songs come easy and sometimes they take time.
Did you use any particular instruments, microphones, recording equipment to help you get a particular sound/tone for the record?
Lewis: We recorded a lot of the album and virtually all of the vocals on our Austrian Audio OC818. Such a great mic and we love the fact that it’s an Austrian brand with a great heritage that just makes brilliant microphones.
I love my acoustic guitars that are both from Cole Clarke, which even though they are an Australian make we actually discovered trying them out in Gruhn Guitars in Nashville, fell in love with them and eventually bought them back in the UK.
Which of your new album tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?
A) Feet on the Asphalt
B) Room for Love
C) Waiting on Luck
Was it a difficult album to write?
Isi: No, but as we said before it was more of an accumulation of songs, the next album we write, we want to go more for a concept album where all the songs tie into each other and I think that might be a little more tricky.
Who designed the album artwork?
Lewis: Isi did all the designs for the album artwork. We initially came up with a concept together, then brought the idea to Michelle Fredericks, who took the photos and then Isi put it all together. We had a slight hiccup as the initial album cover was going to have a proper scrabble board on the front but a day before we sent it off to get printed we realised scrabble has very strict copy-write rules, so Isi had to redesign the scrabble board section of the cover so it only hints at a scrabble board but isn’t the actual thing. As you can imagine that was quite stressful.
One of the tracks is the single ‘Room For Love’. What was the story/inspiration behind the track?
Lewis: The track is all about how we can become disconnected from people through the distractions of modern life.
It was in part inspired by being sat in a pub looking over at the table next to us and noticing that none of the people were actually talking to each other, but they all had their phones out and were scrolling through some form of social media.
We love making personal/analog connections with people and even though social media is a great tool to reach our fans, we are really enjoying any way we can do it in a more old school way!
Do you have any visualisers to accompany the album?
Isi: Yes there will be many videos popping up over the coming weeks.
Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?
Isi: I’m from Vienna, Austria (grand, beautiful, classic, snooty, old)
Lewis: I’m from a hamlet in Gloucestershire (tini, peaceful, whimsical, slow, serene)
How do you look after your voices?
Isi: We will warm up before every show and we try and drink lots of water and don’t drink alcohol before we play! Nothing too crazy.
Do you have any live dates planned in the UK/Europe in 2026?
April 24 – Sprängi Bar – Fischenthal, Switzerland
April 25 – Restaurant Rebleuten – Oberhofen Am Thunersee, Switzerland
April 26 – G5 Live Music Bar – Vienna, Austria
June 18 – Dreieich Musik Event – Germany
July 11 – Margate Country Festival – Margate
July 18 – Cider Saturdays at Dorset Nectar – Dorset
July 24 – Together Again Festival – Cheshire
Aug 16 – Country Calling – Chelmsford
Aug 22 – Birmingham Dogs Home Country Festival – Birmingham
Full Band Tour – Co-Headline with Katy Hurt:
Oct 1 – The Greystones – Sheffield
Oct 2 – Futureyard – Birkenhead
Oct 29 – Oslo – London
Oct 30 – Chapel Arts – Bath
Nov 5 – Frog & Fiddle – Cheltenham
Nov 6 – Le Pub – Newport
What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage?
Isi: I just want people to feel something. Hopefully they are happy feelings. 2. Hopefully I had fun!
Lewis: I hope the audience feel entertained and feel like they would want to see us again.
Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?
As well as loving them in the studio, the Cole Clark guitars that I play are perfectly suited for live, in fact that’s exactly what they were designed for. They sound instantly incredible when you plug them in, which is handy if you’ve got short set-up times, somewhere like a festival, for instance. Also they look very unique, which is how we like to style ourselves when we perform live!!
You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you enjoy. Which novel is it and why?
Lewis: Babel by R. F Kuang. A big portion of the book is set in Oxford and it would lend itself well to a lot of folky, acoustic guitars. Also it would be nice to explore writing music in different languages, which would tie in well with the storyline of the book.
Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?
Isi: I love Lucie Silvas, Brothers Osborne and Ingrid Andress, but grew up on Motown and when I was younger I wanted to be Mariah Carey!
Band/artist recommendations we are loving at the moment would be : Melt, Katie Pruitt and Ben Rector.
Lewis: I’m currently listening to Bon Iver, Blackberry Smoke, Stephen Wilson Jr. but grew up on the Eagles and Queen.
What makes Two Ways Home happy and what makes you unhappy?
Happy : Coffee and finishing tasks and the moment you realise a performance is going well and people are enjoying themselves!
Unhappy: the current state of the world is making us feel slightly uneasy. A more band related ‘unhappy’ would be; when people who want to come to your shows leave it to the last minute to buy tickets. :/
