There are musicians who write songs with their emotions on their sleeves; then there is Odette, who writes songs holding out her bloody, still-beating heart for all to see.
The Australian singer-songwriter has released her sophomore album 'Herald', the follow-up to her highly-successful 2018 debut album 'To A Stranger'.'To A Stranger' introduced us to the hyper-emotive lyricism of Odette (Georgia Odette Sallybanks) with songs that revealed a young songwriter unafraid to expose her flaws and question the strength of her convictions.
"Music is the only way we can make sense of the world and ourselves." - Odette
On 'Herald', Odette has once again parlayed her emotional turmoil and existential suffering into a work of art. While working on the record in New York, Odette became extremely ill with the flu. "I was a mess when I was making this record, an actual, literal mess," Odette admits.
"So, it was all very fragmented, all the songs were spilling out of me and I was over in the States for a bit. I ended up working with a bunch of cool producers and doing a lot of writing on my own.
"All these songs were written during the height of unwellness, so when I took them into the studio with Damian [Taylor] and Carter [Matschullat], it took on a new life because we addressed that then we moved on," she explains.
"We brought up the elephant in the room, we talked it out then we were like: 'How can we balance this?', because this is such a heavy and personal message. How do we flourish that and create a space for that to exist without it overwhelming people and overwhelming me?"
Odette says that by acknowledging her mental and physical condition, and the effect it was having on her songwriting, she and her producers were able to come up with more conducive ways of making the album.
She was encouraged to pursue her interest in captured sound; as a self-confessed insect-lover and amateur entomologist, Odette found solace in the symphony of the natural world.
"A lot of the motifs on the tracks, like if you listen to the [title] song 'Herald', it opens with insect noises, and that was on purpose because I love them and that's a safe sound for me," she explains.
"It's a comforting sound for me, and that song itself is about rage really. I wanted to balance the emotional intensity with these textures and sounds that reminded me of something beautiful and create a healthy environment for an unhealthy person."
It's put to Odette that, at the risk of being cliché, making 'Herald' became a therapeutic process for her. "It's totally not cliché, it's just that it's very common," Odette observes.
"Music is the only way we can make sense of the world and ourselves. Writing this album for me – I've been saying this all day, but I stand by it – it's a time capsule.
"It's literally me pouring my heart out so that it's a reference for my future self; everything I've written is a reference for me in the present.
"Sometimes it's like 'damn, stop reading me like this Past Georgia'," she laughs, "but it's important. Especially musically, I pushed myself a lot on this record, so that's a reminder to me now to keep pushing myself and always try to attain new skills, learn new instruments."
A large portion of Odette's charm and allure, in both her music and her conversation, is her frank and honest nature.
She speaks freely about the themes and personal experiences underpinning 'Herald', including her less-than-ideal childhood, and struggling with mental illness. "You've heard my songs, I'm a pretty open book and I've been transparent about my emotions since I was young," she says.
"I kind of grew up in a very turbulent household, so I carry a lot of anger from that. When I got older, I was undiagnosed at the time, so I was dealing with an illness I didn't know I had, while also dealing with reactions to certain traumatic events, let's say.
"I won't talk about the specifics but one of them was a break-up, which is classic, everyone knows how that is. But after that something kind of snapped and I became all-consumed by rage and ended up just lashing out at everyone and everything.
"I was just so hurt, and it was sort of like the last straw, and I cracked a little bit. It was scary for a while there.
"That's when I wrote these songs, when I was in this space of 'it's everybody else's fault, it has nothing to do with me'," Odette confesses.
"And then, honestly, by writing the songs it was a chance to balance that out and say 'yes, there is that element, but I can also be accountable too'. I can be responsible for me; I don't have to just act on impulse. That's what this album was really; it was almost like a mindfulness exercise," she laughs.
"Every day I'm just one global disaster away from calling it quits and living with the bugs." - Odette
It has been just over a year since scenestr (and this same interviewer) spoke to Odette in November 2019. At that point, she had released 'To A Stranger' in 2018 and was working on her next project (i.e. 'Herald') while also preparing to perform at Lithgow Blast in support of bushfire relief. A time when getting a case of Corona meant a trip to the bottle-o.
Back then, Odette spoke about growing up on her debut and transitioning from teenager to adulthood, a familiar thread in her work that is sewn throughout 'Herald'. "I was not!" Odette laughs at her comments of a year ago.
"I was bullsh.tting, I must have been. I was so naïve. I'm sure I was growing at that point, but I had definitely not become an adult. I don't even know if I'm one now.
"I feel grown-up when I talk to my accountant. Even though I don't understand what she's saying, I still feel grown-up," she says.
"'Am I going to jail or not?' That's usually my question. 'Have I accidentally embezzled?' And she's like, 'no, Georgia, you don't even know how that works'."
While Odette may never make it as a white-collar criminal, as a singer-songwriter she is sure to steal her fair share of hearts.
As for the next goal or dream, Odette has no shortage of things she wants to do, be it learning a wind instrument, building one for herself, travelling to Iceland or taking the reins in the studio. "I think this next record is going to be more me in the production seat, more like a co-pilot to Damian," she says.
"At the moment I'm like the air hostess. . . in the future I'm going to have a lot more control over the physical process, the engineering process."
Failing that, there are always plenty of insects to study. "The number of times I think: 'Could I afford to just stop everything and become an entomologist?'" Odette laughs.
"Then I'm like, 'Georgia, no. You should not do that because you love music.' Every day I'm just one global disaster away from calling it quits and living with the bugs."
'Herald' is available now.
Odette 2021 Tour Dates
Thu 6 May - Altar Bar (Hobart)Fri 7 May - 170 Russell (Melbourne)
Sat 8 May - Volta (Ballarat)
Sun 9 May - Northcote Social Club (Melbourne)* u/18 show
Fri 14 May - Lion Arts Factory (Adelaide)
Fri 21 May - The Triffid (Brisbane)
Sat 22 May - The Northern (Byron Bay)
Sun 23 May - HOTA (Gold Coast)
Fri 4 Jun - The Factory Theatre (Sydney)
Sat 5 Jun - The Cambridge (Newcastle)
Fri 11 Jun - UniBar (Wollongong)
Sat 12 Jun - Fiction (Canberra)
Fri 18 Jun - The Rosemount (Perth)
