INTERVIEW: ODETTE HERALDS A NEW OMEN WITH HER SOPHOMORE ALBUM
Image: Odette explores a deep soundscape with her sophomore album Herald Photo: Giulia McGauran
Sound the bells and raise the bugles, 23-year-old Georgia Odette Sallybanks, Odette, one of Sydney’s most talented singer-songwriters, has released her sophomore album Herald after dipping and diving through the last five years of her adolescence.
Herald has explored new sonic depths as Odette herself went through a transformative period with grace and maturity, navigating a world of complex emotions. Combining two worlds, her sophomore record is adorned with instrumental intricacies which tie in to the natural world.
“There’s two worlds that sort of co-exist, so the lyrical world which is very much centred around me, my emotions, or almost self-absorption, and then there’s the instrumental world which is very much a phenomenon of natural environments,” she said.
“While I’m navigating these complex emotions which I’m not really sure how to navigate, these instruments act as sort of a world and also a safe space which creates a grounding texture.”
And with a new record, comes a newfound sense of confidence for the 23-year-old Sydney song-writer. After a late name change from Dwell, Herald represents a coming-of-age period for Odette.
“When I changed it to Herald it was mostly just because I really really wanted to bring about something new,” she said.
“I wrote that song because Herald means – it’s kind of like an omen – like something’s coming and it has a tone of anticipation and that’s sort of the tone of the whole record.”
The record also features a collaboration with Australian electronic duo, Hermitude, on her track ‘Feverbreak’. The track honours her debut single, ‘Watch Me Read You’, as it intertwines her signature spoken word poetry stylings with delicate electronic undercurrents from Hermitude.
“I write songs like that when I have a lot to say and not a lot of patience, and the Hermitude guys were so great with that, they just totally got it... it was such an amazing experience,” she said.
“That was the point of the record, to just say everything out loud and hopefully just use that as a launchpad to launch myself out of that headspace – I think it’s working – we’ll see.”
Late last year Odette reimagined Australian rock band ACDC’s ‘Thunderstruck’ for Triple J’s Like A Version segment, where she mentioned in an interview how much she had grown out of the pressure to ‘sound pretty’ and felt more herself since her first Like A Version cover in 2018.
“[In the first record] I still had this mentality of like it needs to be ethereal, it needs to be pretty and light, and as I’ve aged my voice is getting deeper, you know?”
Whilst there was a high degree of praise for her cover, a few comments criticised Odette’s interpretation of ‘Thunderstruck’, which perhaps speaks more loudly to the degree of tone policing which is inflicted on some women in music in Australia.
“There seems to be this weird intense policing of female tone, if you’re not beautiful sounding and perfectly articulate, you get a lot of hate,” she said.
“I just noticed it a lot, especially with female artists and non-binary artists.”
If COVID-19 vaccines are successful, Odette is keen to get back on the road and tour rural Australia, especially Tasmania.
“I want to do rural Australia, and I really am desperate to get to Tassie,” she said.
“On my last tour Tassie was always left out and I hated that so I’m so excited. I love Tassie so much, if I could close my eyes and be there I would in a heartbeat.”
Odette today releases her second studio album Herald along with a new music video for the title track, and announces a string of national dates in support of the release.
6 May - Altar Bar, Hobart
7 May - 170 Russell, Melbourne
8 May - Volta, Ballarat
9 May - Northcote Social Club, Melbourne [U18]
14 May - Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide
21 May - The Triffid, Brisbane
22 May - The Northern, Byron Bay
23 May - HOTA, Gold Coast
4 June - Factory Theatre, Sydney
5 June - The Cambridge, Newcastle
11 June - UniBar, Wollongong
12 June - Fiction, Canberra
18 June - Rosemount, Perth