Forward-thinking producers eevee and sweeep have returned to the studio to produce a pleasantly haunting record called ‘the one’. The single is a sneak preview of their forthcoming collaborative album vandalism and selfcare, scheduled for release under eevee’s Secret Souls label.
The single feels as if it represents a forgotten place, once loved but now lost, eroded by the sands of time. Like a flame in the wind, noises flicker, casting long shadows on the walls. Crickets chirp in the corners while spinning vinyl crackle calls to us, inviting us to explore the abandoned ruins of memory and melody.
The single is as much of a deconstruction as it is a production. Bits and pieces fall away, collapsing beneath our feet so that we plummet into a torrent of emotion that the two creators have unleashed. But we swim through, arriving safely on sturdy shores where eevee and sweeep wait to warm us.
ODESZA’s forthcoming album‘The Last Goodbye’ will be outon the July 22nd (on Foreign Family Collective/Ninja Tune), and as the GRAMMY-nominated duo of HarrisonMills and ClaytonKnight inch towards its much-anticipated, full unveiling, they have released the latest track“Light Of Day (feat. Ólafur Arnalds)”, giving fans one final taste of what’s to come before the LP finally drops.
The track is a cinematic escape that transforms from a futuristic piano-driven ballad into a complex electronic reveal with an enchanting vocal refrain courtesy of Stephen Ambrose. The song is a collaboration with longtime friend and Icelandic instrumentalist, Ólafur Arnalds – building the orchestral foundation together that gives this song this dichotomy of fragility and resilience, throughout. The vocal pulls from a folk song Ambrose released in 1972 titled ‘Mary’. Ambrose, too, is a pioneer in the audio world, responsible for paving the way for touring musicians in his invention and development of the first wireless in-ear monitors, which are now found on stage around the world.
On the collaboration, ODESZA notes:
“Light of Day was one of the first songs off the record we finished. It served as a bookend for the record – and really, a guiding light for the project as a whole. This song started with Ólafur, an incredible artist and longtime friend, sending an initial idea our way. The vocal sample is from a 1970s folk song titled “Mary” that we discovered digging through old records – featuring Stephen Ambrose. We see that vocal as a slow building mantra of sorts, something we that hoped would evoke this feeling of being at peace.”
Last week, ODESZA further teased the upcoming LP by debuting the first phase of “The Maze”, an interactive & strategic web game which explores the themes of the album via “quests” assigned to each track. Very much like a virtual scavenger hunt, “The Maze” requires fans to scour ODESZA’s web and social channels in addition to real life activations and communal teamwork to uncover clues and unlock rewards and prizes. A nod to the bond they’ve forged with their fanbase, the maze has sparked a collective frenzy that’s engaged them in full force, as they work together to solve the puzzle.
A true testament to the connection they’ve developed with their community, ODESZA sold over 350k tickets during the initial 48-hour ticket on-sale period of their upcoming “The Last Goodbye Tour”, reaffirming the Seattle duo as one of modern music live performance juggernauts. Three nights at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, two nights at LA’s The Forum, and two nights at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium are just a few of the notable and massive sell-out shows. In a recent cover feature, in reference to the tour, Pollstar plainly stated “ODESZA makes history”. Full dates HERE.
Additionally, ODESZA is partnering with environmental nonprofit and music industry veterans REVERB to make their tour more environmentally sustainable and to engage fans to take action for people and the planet. Not only will the tour be carbon negative, eliminating substantially more greenhouse gas pollution than the tour creates, there will also be engagements at each show to encourage fans to get involved to take action against climate change.
With over 5 billion total streams, ODESZA have masterfully reemerged to remind the world what has made the duo of HarrisonMills and ClaytonKnight cornerstones of the modern electronic landscape. Their last album ‘A Moment Apart’ was not only a commercial success (going gold and debuting at no. 3 on the Billboard 200), but it also earned critical acclaim including two GRAMMY nominations and praise from the likes of NPR, RollingStone, Billboard, Complex, Consequence and more.
The duo has cultivated a diehard fan base of massive proportions: known for their groundbreaking, awe-inspiring and immersive live performance, which reached 2.85m+ fans over the course of their ‘A Moment Apart’ tour. They also have had headline performances at the likes of Coachella, Lollapalooza & more, as well as performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Conan, and launched their own music festival SUNDARA in Riviera Maya, Mexico in 2019.
Secret Souls founder eevee has produced an introspective single with the help of New York local, cliffe. The song is a warm blanket of melodious melancholy, contrasting with their previously released track ‘so easy’. While both tracks deal with what it means to love, ‘villain’ adopts a different approach, addressing its vices rather than its virtues.
The song is minimal, but not sparse. Each sound is handpicked and essential, conveying powerful emotions. One such sound is the slightly detuned guitar that strums beneath a vintage filter. Gliding from chord to chord, eevee chose to keep the sound of fingers in motion; a choice that serves to bring intimacy to the record, bolstering its confessional tone.
It’s not often we are made privy to such vulnerability. eevee and cliffe have let us into their world, and that is a privilege. We appreciate their poetry and poise, a combination that makes for long-lasting art. ‘villain’ is simply outstanding.
This past weekend was an interesting one for many reasons but none more so than the collaboration between sweeep and Sace on their latest single, ‘gaze’ via the renowned Secret Souls imprint. The single follows the release of their previous project, ‘burn down my mind’ which also featured Sace’s side project, Silent Boy. If you’re getting a bit lost, bear with us as we still have few more interesting contenders to enter the ring. Both singles will appear on an upcoming collaborative project spearheaded by lo-fi royalty eevee. Her Secret Souls imprint was created to become the “go to place” to search for mellow and relaxing music.
sweeep and Sace’s‘gaze’ draws us back to the present day as her ethereal vocals meet the mellow basslines. The single is unhurried, luxuriating in its own synths and finding purchase in the mystical. We wouldn’t be surprised if it found itself on a dark wave playlist or two, flirting with a witch-house track next door.
The two producers tell us about their creation: “Both of us have been known producers in the same underground scene for a few years and its not many people from Stockholm who are into that type of music, so it felt natural that we should work on something together. Now we are both evolving our sounds by adding our vocals on the beats, which could move our music into a new context that is yet to be discovered.”
