Love, heartbreak, grief, anger, self-analysis, accountability – Sydney based singer songwriter Odette leaves no stone unturned on her second studio album ‘Herald’, out February 5, available to pre-order now.

Today she releases ‘Dwell’, the second single from the album and the follow up to February’s ‘Feverbreak’ with Hermitude, Download/stream ‘Dwell’ HERE.

Produced by Pip Norman (Troye Sivan, Baker Boy) and mixed by Damian Taylor, the track sees Odette ruminating on, well, ruminating. “I wrote 'Dwell' because I knew I needed to change but I didn't know how to,” she explains. “I had spent a lot of my time marinating in my own grief and it had begun to fester and putrefy. This song is a call to everyone like me, who have felt the crueler sides of human nature, to acknowledge their own destructive potential and to expel the rage and fear that simmers like a poison broth in our hearts. I hope to leave delusion and arrive in the present moment, willing and open.”

Also released today is the video for “Dwell”, directed by Peter Hume (Didirri, Evermore) & Kitty Callaghan.

“The video is a visual representation of shedding,” Odette illustrates. “To be able to see yourself through a lens of clarity and understanding, without ignoring the intensity of pain, but to be motivated and driven by its anguish. I needed to evolve, but as it began I realised that pain is itself in every sense of the word and that to reach a catharsis I would need to turn inside out.” Watch the video here.

“I sabotaged a lot of good relationships, but I wrote this album because I wanted to document it in a way that wasn’t enabling it,” she clarifies. “I originally called it ‘Dwell’ because it was all about ruminating, which is a huge problem for me. But it’s one thing to draw attention to an illness or a thought, or a practice or behaviour that isn’t healthy, but it’s another thing to create an image around it, and I didn’t want Dwell to be the main take-away. I wanted it to very much be about reflecting, self-analysis and then growth. The most important part, for me, is the growth.”

And so she arrived at Herald, taken from the string soaked, theatrically throbbing opening track of the album. “It’s about realising I was in a toxic relationship, blaming the partner, and then right at the end going, actually, I think this is my fault.” After peeling back layers and layers of armour, Odette found she was much more fragile and vulnerable than she was letting on. “I guess I wanted to tell everyone that I am a softshell mollusc, deep down”, she says.

Working once again with famed producer Damian Taylor (Björk, Arcade Fire, The Killers), Odette says Taylor gave her the confidence to experiment further with her sound this time around. “He was like, Georgia, I just want you to let go and deep dive into your world and make something from it”, she says. “So I feel like I was a lot bolder with instrumentation and with experimental sounds.”

The bold and visually striking album artwork is an oil on canvas portrait by accomplished Melbourne-based artist Eben Ejdne. “Eben has been my friend for a long time,” Odette tells. We met as teenagers obsessed with art and emotion. I’ve been following his work over the years and knew that I needed to bring him on for this project. His portrait series is a beautiful and accurate portrayal of my flesh embodying the waiting place to who I am becoming.”

The eleven track album, released on February 5 next year, will be made available on three different vinyl colours (swamp green, blue and bone), CD and digital download/streaming via EMI Music Australia.

HERALD TRACKLISTING

Herald

Dwell

Trial By Fire

What I Know Is Not Enough

I Miss You, I’m Sorry

Foghorn

Feverbreak (feat. Hermitude)

Amends

Why Can’t I Let The Sun Set?

Wait For You

Mandible

Odette has been announced as part of the Great Southern Nights schedule of live events across NSW, performing at Eternity Playhouse, Darlinghurst on November 20. Tickets are available here.

Late last week, Odette announced Josh Milgate and Larissa Jane Ryan from Hutch Collective as her new management representation for the world. Hutch Collective is a boutique Melbourne (Narrm) based artist management and creative services company. Originally founded in 2016, the company directors are Larissa Jane Ryan (Wamba Wamba), Josh Milgate and Peter Elisha Hume.

(ODETTE) “I’m so excited to announce my signing with Hutch Collective. After a beautiful, formative and career-establishing eight years with FGP, I'm moving into the next year honouring my foundations and diving into the deep end of the creative unknown. Josh and Larissa are fiery, powerful and emboldened people and I am ecstatic to be embarking on this journey with them.

Odette burst on to the scene in 2017 with ‘Watch Me Read You’, an epic ballad about the complexities of processing trauma, the single landing at  No. 56 on triple J’s Hottest 100 and achieving Gold ARIA accreditation.

Follow up singles ‘Collide’, ‘Take It To The Heart’ and ‘Lights Out’ all reached Gold status whilst debut album ‘To A Stranger’ debuted at No. 13 on the ARIA Album Chart and earned Odette two ARIA Awards nominations in 2018 including Breakthrough Artist. With over 55 million streams, two sold out national headline tours, Falls Festival, SXSW, and headline Europe & UK tour under her belt, Odette is looking forward to the release of her transcendental new record and 2021 being her biggest year yet.

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