'I Lost Sight Of Myself': Odette Details Her Journey To New Album 'Herald'

To celebrate today's release of her second album, Herald, Sydney songwriter Odette has announced a headline tour of Australia.

The run will kick off in Hobart this May, followed by stops in Melbourne, Ballarat, Adelaide, Brisbane, Byron Bay, Gold Coast, Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Canberra and Perth.

Tickets for all shows are on sale now. For more details, click on theGuide.

In a The Music exclusive, Odette wrote about her journey to the new album, having gone through a period of personal and musical growth.

Read the piece in full below.

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This album is a time capsule, like all albums. Inside it, I have placed some of my most personal experiences, fears, flaws and hopes. There is an intensity to this record that formed during years of undiagnosed borderline turbulence. I lost friends, lovers and family members. I lost sight of myself. Herald details my innermost thoughts, my reactions to the senses. Insect noises, bird noises and naturalist themes can be heard throughout the album. This was done on purpose to serve as a grounding texture, a comforting presence, whilst I attempted to navigate the intense complexities of my skewed reality. In songs like Herald, Trial By Fire and Feverbreak, you can hear the rage. You can hear how desperate I am to be heard, to be right. This intensity is contrasted by the insects and by the orchestral instrumentation.

Working with [producers] Damian Taylor and Carter Matschullat on this record was incredible. Damian, being based in LA, brought his sonic wizardry to the project. We explored nuanced textures and synths in the universe of Herald. Carter had a much more orchestral approach which balanced their works beautifully and brought a comfort to the experience of emotional exploration. They both brought their own universal experiences and sonic prowess to the detail and ambience of the soundscapes created. Creating with them was a privilege and catharsis and I found it empowering to connect with musical, likeminded people. 

The lyrics are very much me, searching in the dark for something tangible that I can hold on to whilst life continues on. The instrumentation of the entire record is extremely important. It’s far less one sided and serves as a complex universe for me to experience in. It’s the place. At first, I was afraid of the place. It can bring so much pain and so much despair. But if I focus on the bird noises, the insects, the raw husk of a clarinet, the soft tonguing of a saxophone, images start to form and I can create a form of clarity. Images of the world outside my head. A place that existed long before I did and will go on after I die. A place this record is representative of as the environment I am attempting to burst through to. Foghorn details this feeling; Why Can’t I Let The Sun Set details it too. There is something outside and all I wish is for my fear to subside, for my hackles to dissipate, so that I might experience worldly joys before my time here is over. 

The album, as a whole, are all the parts of me uniting, sparking up against each other. Some creating conflict, others creating clarity. Pain and suffering is stripped away to find only yearning. 

As someone with Borderline Personality Disorder, my life fluctuates between stable and unstable every day, sometimes within minutes. This is why textured, sensory exploration and instruments are so deeply important to me. They’re tangible, something to grasp on to whole waves of emotion crash over me constantly and relentlessly. Senses are important reminders that there is a world out there and I am a part of it.

Ending on Mandible, the album crescendos to a place of hope. Leaving the bones of the past behind, leaping into a living room or a bar or a street to find strangers, new friends, lovers. There is a place for me and I will find it. I will create my own peace of mind and sense of safety. 

‘I will lash out at the web that’s keeping me from everyone.’