I used to strongly dislike electronic music. I thought its legitimacy was invalidated by the idea of a single man or woman up on a stage surrounded by machines—what do they do up there, really—mysteriously and debatably recreating songs for people who habitually wear a lot of neon. “There are no real instruments,” I used to say. But, electronic music kept cropping up on my 8tracks and I finally took to SoundCloud in a musical expedition of epic proportions. Suffice to say that Frightened Rabbit now easily coexists alongside Slow Magic in my iTunes library, and it’s excellent. An additional result of my expedition was the realization that while some of the music on SoundCloud generously sounds like a sampler colliding with a washing machine while a chorus of small children sings in the background, there’s some really great stuff to be found out there. Odesza is a perfect example.
Harrison Mills (Catacombkid) and Clayton Knight (BeachesBeaches) teamed up after meeting at Western Washington University in 2012. Since then, they’ve accumulated a large cult following and are successfully touring. That in itself is pretty impressive, because about every third guy I graduated high school with had some pet music project that (as far as I know) has yet to become a hit. It’s hard to compartmentalize their style, especially as there are many labels for this type of music: dream wave, indie electronica, chill trap and so on. Ultimately, it’s just really good electronic production. The duo recently put out their sun–soaked sophomore album, “In Return,” and it surpasses the high bar set by their debut album “Summer’s Gone” and the EP “My Friends Never Die.” It’s versatile in a way that feels new and delivers a recognizable style along with uniquely melodic, dreamily danceable soundscapes.
“No Return” is by no means front – loaded and song type varies impressively, from the height – of – summer anthem “Sun Models” featuring Madelyn Grant to the echoing and voiceless “Kusanagi,” which includes an ambient intro reminiscent of “Window” by The Album Leaf. It’s a polyrhythmic masterpiece from start to finish. “Home” off of “My Friends Never Die” and “How Did I Get Here/Above The Middle” from “Summer’s Gone” are most indicative of the “In Return” style. The duo also has an ongoing “NO.SLEEP” mixtape project and puts out the occasional remix; their additions to ZHU’s “Faded” should probably even be called a rework.
Simply put, Odesza’s work feels genuine in a way that a lot of recent electronic music doesn’t. It’s carefully polished, but never borders on clinical; it’s not a messy GarageBand project but rather a collection of sounds that feel like they were shot through a prism before recording. Their songs are full of sun – drenched ephemeral intro sequences, perfectly engineered harmonies, syncopated beats and a bunch of other technical things I don’t know how to discuss intelligently yet but that sound really, really nice.
Listen to Odesza when you’re studying. Listen to them when you’re preparing to go out. Listen to them as you not – so – subtly appraise people walking down Locust between classes, but most importantly, just LISTEN.
