Odesza

Odesza (/oʊˈdɛsə/; stylized as ODESZA[7]) is an American electronic music duo originating from Bellingham, Washington. It consists of Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight, known individually as Catacombkid and BeachesBeaches. They formed in 2012, shortly before Mills and Knight graduated from Western Washington University. Additionally, Odesza is composed of a complete brass section, drum line, and singers including Naomi Wild and WYNNE.[8]

Odesza
Odesza performing at the Arlington Theater in April 2015
Background information
Origin	Bellingham, Washington, United States
Genres	Indietronica[1][2] electropop[2] chillwave[3] future bass[4] trap[5]
Years active	2012–present
Labels	Ninja Tune Counter Foreign Family Collective
Website	www.odesza.com
Members	Harrison Mills (aka Catacombkid) Clayton Knight (aka BeachesBeaches)[6]

Their debut album, Summer's Gone, was released later in 2012 to acclaim in the underground electronic music community.[9][10] After their debut extended play (EP), My Friends Never Die, in 2013, they released their sophomore album, In Return, on September 9, 2014. It was the duo's debut release on Ninja Tune and its imprint, Counter Records. In 2016, "Say My Name" (RAC mix) gained the duo their first Grammy nomination (Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical) at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.[11] A Moment Apart, their third studio album, was released on September 8, 2017.[12] It reached #3 on the Billboard 200, while topping the Top Electronic/Dance Albums Chart.[13][14] It was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album, with "Line of Sight" also nominated for Best Dance Recording, at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards in 2018.

The duo was also nominated in 2017 for Producer of the Year at the Electronic Music Awards.

The duo have founded and operated their own record label, Foreign Family Collective, which distributes songs as well as visual art from artists.

Furthermore, Billboard named Odesza as #10 on their 2018 ranking of dance musicians, the Billboard Dance 100.[15][16]

History

Early career

Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight met during their freshman year at Western Washington University. The two did not share the same educational interests. Knight studied physics and mathematics while Mills studied graphic design.[6] They did not begin collaborating musically until their senior year in 2012 after befriending their early influence into music, DJ Maul-IE.[17] As a child, Knight was classically trained in piano and later learned guitar.[17]

Name

The band's name is taken from the name of Mills' uncle's sunken vessel, which was named after the Ukrainian city of Odesa. Only his uncle and one other crew mate survived.[18] Since the spelling "Odessa" was already being used by a Scottish synth band, they instead chose to use a form of the Hungarian spelling, replacing the "ss" with "sz".[19] The correct spelling in Hungarian is: Odessza.

Individually Mills is known as Catacombkid, and Knight is known as BeachesBeaches. In reference to how Mills got his nickname, he says, "I got into Aesop Rock and he has a song called 'Catacomb Kids.' I thought it sounded cool."[6] On the other hand, the story behind Knight's nickname, he says, "Honestly I was high in my bedroom making music one day…"[6]

2012–2014: Summer's Gone, My Friends Never Die EP and In Return

Odesza performing in 2014

The duo quickly released their debut LP, Summer's Gone, on September 5, 2012. On November 9, 2012, Odesza performed their first show, opening for Teen Daze and Beat Connection in Bellingham, WA.[20] Odesza was booked to open for Pretty Lights on his Analog Future Tour in the fall of 2013.[21] Their first headline tour kicked off on March 12, 2014.[22] On October 17, 2014, Odesza's In Return North American tour sold out 28 shows.[23] Thirty-one Odesza tracks have hit #1 on Hype Machine, including "How Did I Get Here", "Memories That You Call", "Lights", "All We Need" (Autograf Remix), among others.[24] Their first festival performance at Sasquatch! Music Festival in George, Washington was followed by slots at over 20 festivals, including Coachella, SXSW, Hangout Festival, Lightning in a Bottle, Governor's Ball Music Festival, Bonnaroo Music Festival, Firefly Music Festival, Free Press Summer Fest, and Lollapalooza.[25]

2015–2016: Foreign Family Collective and touring

In March 2015, Odesza launched Foreign Family Collective, an outlet for musicians and visual artists alike.[26] Their goal is to help upcoming artists gain more exposure by releasing one-off singles. As of December 2017, there have been 29 released singles.[27]

On November 11, 2015, Odesza launched their official mobile app on iOS and Android.[28]

Following their sold out In Return Fall Tour, Odesza released the video for "It's Only" (featuring Zyra) on January 18, 2016.[29]

2017: A Moment Apart and 2017 A Moment Apart Tour

On April 25, 2017, Odesza released two digital singles, "Late Night" and "Line of Sight" featuring WYNNE and Mansionair.[30] On June 12, 2017, the duo released two additional digital singles ("Meridian" and "Corners of the Earth" featuring RY X), and announced a September 8 release date for their third studio album, A Moment Apart. An additional single ("Higher Ground" featuring Naomi Wild) was released after having been leaked online.[31] Following the release of the album, a world tour was announced with dates across Australia, Europe, and North America.[12] The 2017 A Moment Apart Tour was met with great response, selling out large venues such as Staples Center and Barclays Center.[32][33]

Tracks from A Moment Apart have been widely used across the media; "Across the Room" (featuring Leon Bridges) was used on Grey's Anatomy S14E05, "Danger Zone"; "A Moment Apart" in GoPro Hero6's commercial and as a song on a radio station in Forza Horizon 4;[34] "Late Night" for Acura.[35] "La Ciudad" was used as one of the background tracks to EA Sports’ FIFA 18.

On October 26, 2017, Odesza made their debut television appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! performing "Line of Sight" featuring WYNNE and "Higher Ground" featuring Naomi Wild.[36] On November 28, 2017, A Moment Apart was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards; their single "Line of Sight" featuring WYNNE[37] & Mansionair was nominated for Best Dance Recording.[38]

2018-2019: 2018 A Moment Apart Tour, "Loyal" and SUNDARA

On December 4, 2017 Odesza announced the continuation of their A Moment Apart Tour, kicking off February 2, 2018 at Laneway Festival.[39] On January 2, 2018, Odesza announced they would be joining the Coachella 2018 lineup, playing on Sunday night before Eminem.[40] On January 9, "Corners of the Earth" was chosen to be used as the Winter Olympics Anthem.[41]

On September 12, 2018, Odesza released their 11th single, “Loyal”. “Loyal” is a stand-alone song not associated with any album. It peaked at 19th on the US dance chart. “Loyal” gained more popularity when it was featured on Apple’s “This is big” advert regarding the release of the iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max, iPhone Xr and the Apple Watch Series 4. Apple’s “This is big” advert also premiered on September 12th 2018 suggesting that Apple and Odesza had a contract to co-ordinate releases so as to maximize sales for both parties. Additionally, "Loyal" was used in an advertisement for the Nissan Juke.

“Loyal” was also used in the release trailer for the Fortune Island expansion of the 2018 video game Forza Horizon 4.

On October 16, 2018, Foreign Family Collective announced its first Odesza-curated festival, SUNDARA, to be held at the all-inclusive Barceló Resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico. The four-day festival is set to run from March 13–16, and features major acts like RL Grime, Rüfüs du Sol, Alison Wonderland, Jai Wolf, and many more.[42]

On June 15, 2019, "A Moment Apart" also gained popularity when it was used in a YouTube video titled “I’m Gay - Eugene Lee Yang” by The Try Guys.

2020: Bronson

On April 26, 2020, Odesza announced on their social media that they had completed a collaborative album with Australian producer Golden Features.[43] On April 27, it was confirmed that both the project and the album would be titled Bronson, and that it would be released on July 17, 2020, with the first two tracks "Heart Attack" and "Vaults" available the following day.[44]

On June 30, 2020, the third track "Dawn" was released, with the duo announcing that their album would be pushed back to August 7, 2020.[45]

Discography

Studio albums

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions shown

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		US [46]	US Dance [47]	AUS [48]
Summer's Gone	Released: September 2, 2012 Label: Self-released Format: Digital download	—	—	—
In Return	Released: September 9, 2014 Label: Counter, Ninja Tune Format: CD, LP, digital download	42	1	—
A Moment Apart	Released: September 8, 2017 Label: Counter, Ninja Tune, Foreign Family Collective Format: CD, LP, digital download, streaming	3	1	13

Collaborative albums

List of collaborative albums, with release date and label shown

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US Dance [49]	AUS [50]
Bronson (with Golden Features as Bronson)	Released: August 7, 2020 Formats: Digital download, streaming Label: Warner Music Australia (Australia), Ninja Tune / Foreign Family Collective (International)	5	23

Extended plays

List of extended plays, with release date and label shown

Title	Details
My Friends Never Die	Released: September 17, 2013[51] Label: Formats: Digital download

Remix EPs

List of remix EPs, with release date and label shown

Title	Details
My Friends Never Die (Remixes)	Released: November 12, 2013 Label: Formats: Digital download
Say My Name (Remixes)	Released: October 10, 2014 Label: Formats: Digital download
All We Need (Remixes)	Released: February 16, 2015 Label: Formats: Digital download
It's Only (Remixes)	Released: February 16, 2016 Label: Formats: Digital download, streaming
Higher Ground (Remixes)	Released: March 30, 2017 Label: Formats: Digital download, streaming
Across The Room Remixes	Released: June 21, 2018 Label: Formats: Digital download, streaming
Falls Remixes	Released: October 19, 2018 Label: Formats: Digital download, streaming
A Moment Apart (Remixes)	Released: February 15, 2019 Label: Formats: Digital download, streaming

Singles

List of singles, with year released and album shown

Title	Year	Peak chart positions		Certifications	Album
		US Alt. [52]	US Dance [53]
"Sun Models" (featuring Madelyn Grant)	2014	—	40	RIAA: Gold[54] ARIA: Gold[55]	In Return
"Say My Name" (featuring Zyra)	2015	—	16	RIAA: Gold[54]
"All We Need" (featuring Shy Girls)		—	29
"Light" (featuring Little Dragon)		—	—
"It's Only" (featuring Zyra)	2016	—	—
"Line of Sight" (featuring Wynne and Mansionair)	2017	23	37	ARIA: Gold[56]	A Moment Apart[upper-alpha 1]
"Late Night"		—	31
"Meridian"		—	31
"Corners of the Earth" (featuring RY X)		—	—
"Higher Ground" (featuring Naomi Wild)		—	25
"Across the Room" (featuring Leon Bridges)[57]		—	30
"Loyal"[5]	2018	—	19
"Heart Attack" (with Golden Features as Bronson; featuring Lau.ra)[58]	2020	—	—		Bronson
"Vaults" (with Golden Features as Bronson)[58]		—	—
"Dawn" (with Golden Features as Bronson; featuring Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs)[59]		—	—
"Keep Moving"(with Golden Features as Bronson)[60]		—	—
"—" denotes an recording that did not chart or was not released.

Other charted songs

List of other charted songs, with year released and album shown

Title	Year	Peak chart positions		Album
		US AAA [61]	US Dance [53]
"Bloom"	2015	—	39	In Return
"Falls" (featuring Sasha Sloan)	2017	—	29	A Moment Apart
"A Moment Apart"		—	32
"Boy"		—	38
"—" denotes an recording that did not chart or was not released.

Remixes

Year	Release details	Song
2012	The Palace Garden Beat Connection Released: April 25, 2013	"Saola" (Odesza Remix)
2013	Don't Talk To (EP) Rac Released: September 30, 2013	"We Belong" featuring Katie Herzig (Odesza Remix)
2013	A Color Map of the Sun – Remixes Pretty Lights Released: December 10, 2013	"One Day They'll Know" (Odesza Remix)
2014	Divergent: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Pretty Lights Released: March 3, 2014	"Lost and Found" (Odesza Remix)
2014	Kitty Hawk (Deluxe Edition) Ki:Theory Released: April 8, 2014	"Open Wound" (Odesza Remix)
2014	Faded – The Remixes Zhu Released: June 29, 2014	"Faded" (Odesza Remix)
2014	"Waited 4 U" Slow Magic Released: November 12, 2014	"Waited 4 U" (Odesza Remix)
2014	"Big Girls Cry" Sia Released: December 5, 2014	"Big Girls Cry" (Odesza Remix)
2015	"Eve II" Emancipator Released: July 7, 2015	"Eve II" (Odesza Remix)
2015	"Something About You" Hayden James Released: July 27, 2015	"Something About You" (Odesza Remix)
2015	"Divinity" Porter Robinson Released: September 21, 2015	"Divinity" featuring Amy Millan (Odesza Remix)
2018	"It's Only" Odesza, Zyra Released: November 29, 2018	"It's Only" featuring Zyra (Odesza VIP Remix)[62]
2018	"Memories That You Call" Odesza, Monsoonsiren Released: November 30, 2018	"Memories That You Call" featuring Monsoonsiren (Odesza and Golden Features Remix)[63]
2019	"Waited 4 U" Slow Magic Released: November 14, 2019	"Waited 4 U" (Odesza Remix)[64]

Notes

1. "Loyal" is only included on the deluxe edition of A Moment Apart.

References

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58. Newstead, Al (April 29, 2020). "Listen to the first tracks from Odesza & Golden Features' new project BRONSON". ABC. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
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External links

• Official website