Stand in the Star. A Verse and a Chorus

The Wow! Scenario began in 2004 in Kettering, Northamptonshire, with comedian, actor and musician James Acaster and lifelong friend Graeme Wicks. Their debut album, Stand in the Star. A Verse and a Chorus, was first recorded in December 2007 with producer Chris Hamilton and finally reaches release in 2026.

The name came from a drunk audience member mangling “the X factor” into “the wow scenario”. By then, after years of poorly attended gigs, weekly singing lessons and plenty of hostility, the duo had decided to split. Still, they threw themselves into the sessions, adding jazzy guitars, freewheeling drums and airport field recordings.

Hamilton mixed the album in January 2008, then it was shelved. In 2018, Mark Brown and Guy Fletcher re-recorded the vocal melodies on saxophone, clarinet and fiddle, but the songs still felt unfinished. In March 2023, Emma Daman and BC Camplight finally sang the parts, and by March 2025, after a third mix, it was complete.