If you've never heard of Odessa, that's about to change. The singer-songwriter released her first album, "Odessa," today and her journey to this point is already impressive: By the age of 15, she had played classical violin at Carnegie Hall and booked her first modeling gig–with Versace. She toured backup with a range of groups, from bluegrass to rock, including Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, but surviving a near-fatal bicycle accident inspired her to go solo.
The musician and part-time model is a well-traveled soul, having lived everywhere from Japan to Alaska (and is bound for South America to record her next album) which shows not only in her multi-influenced sound, but also her bohemian style. BAZAAR sat down with the singer to get the scoop on her debut album.
Harper's BAZAAR: How does it feel to be releasing your first album?
Odessa: It feels so good. It's been finished for a while and right now I'm just thinking about my next album. So it feels good that this one's actually going to come out, so that I can start to really focus on the next one.
HB: What were some of your inspirations for this album?
O: I think my time living in Nashville was an inspiration, with people that I know there, the relationships that I have there. I moved there when I was 18 and I feel like I kind of learned to live on my own there. And then I did a lot of touring and traveling while I was living there. Colorado was a very a big inspiration, I spent a lot of time there. I lived in Alaska for a time during making that album. Just a lot of things, it was such a time of growth.
HB: A lot of your songs have great lyrical imagery; it's almost all very story-like. How do you come up with such eloquent lyrics?
O: I honestly don't spend a lot of time premeditating lyrics or thinking too hard about them when I'm writing them. It always comes out of a really profound experience. And then I'm sort of forced–in a good way–forced to tell something about that.
HB: Speaking of profound experiences, I've read you were unfortunately in a severe cycling accident. Has that affected your music at all?
O: The accident actually happened in the middle of the album, so I had everything written before then. On the next album there's actually a song written directly about it and the first line is, "I'm thankful for my health and that I didn't die by automobile." So there's going to be a lot happening in the next album that was inspired by that. And just in general, when that accident happened, after I sort of just lost a lot of my inhibitions about living. I don't know what specific song or something that it influenced, but it definitely had an impact on my view of life and I decided after that accident to quit all the other bands I was in and focus on doing my own thing, which was really what I wanted to do.
HB: That's great. And you also trained classically for violin. How did you switch out of the classical mode into joining bands of different genres?
O: Well as a teenager I just thought that rock n' roll was cooler than violin to be perfectly honest. It just appealed to me more because I started subbing in a symphony, and I have a great respect for classical music and people who uphold the classical tradition and continue to play those pieces so well and beautifully. But, there isn't a whole lot of room for personal expression beyond what you can put into a piece that hundreds of people played for years and years. That's a beautiful and wonderful thing, but I wasn't feeling satisfied at all and I was just getting bored.
My dad also encouraged me to write my own music. But he said, "If you're going to branch out on your own, you should have your own music, music that's entirely yours. The music that you write." I didn't write at all as a teenager, but that really always stuck with me and then a couple years later I started writing more of my own music and singing. At that point, I only played violin, I didn't sing. I would sing harmony for people but I never sang any lead vocal or had any desire to be like a front person in a band. I was perfectly content to play the string parts or violin parts or whatever.
HB: Your sound is super interesting because you have folk and blues and kind of psychedelic influences—how was it developed?
O: I would say it's just listening to a variety of music and seeing so much live music. When I was playing violin for like, Edward Sharpe, we played hundreds of festivals all over the world. I saw the Buena Vista Social Club in England once, and sat through that show and listened to them. And I think probably everything I've ever listened to, gotten really deep into, had an influence. Psychedellic music; I love Pink Floyd. And I also love Emmylou Harris and her album Wrecking Ball, produced by Daniel Lanois – it's a gorgeous album. I like such a variety, like Roberta Flack—an incredible singer—and string parts on this album by Jim Sullivan, which he had this band called The Wrecking Crew play on it and they had all those really beautiful '60s string parts. That inspired a lot of the string parts on my album, which I wrote and recorded. So, I listen to a lot of older music, I don't listen to a lot of new music at all. I will from time to time.
HB: Who are you listening to right now?
O: The War on Drugs. And this album, I can't remember what it's called, but it's by Roberta Flack and it's incredible. I think it's called 'Feel like Makin' Love.' So that's what I've been listening to pretty consistently.
HB: When you lived in Japan you had pursued a modeling career, right?
O: I did a lot of modeling as a teenager and still throughout the years just continued to do that.
HB: Do you still do it now on the side?
O: Yeah. Obviously not full time. I've done a lot of different campaigns for the last couple years. It's a nice way to make some extra money, and a different thing that I was able to do.
HB: It's really cool that you've walked on both paths as a musician and as a model. Has that influenced your style at all?
O: Yeah I think just from having done it at a young age. My first job was for Versace and I was like 14 or 15 and I think that was my introduction into really beautifully made clothing. Being involved in fashion that way, it definitely has influenced my style. I mean I found a dress at a thrift store for 50 cents the other day that I've been wearing for two weeks–it's the truth!–but I also love to spend money on something that I think is really nice and durable and made well.
HB: How would you describe your personal style?
O: It's like pretty cluttered. I like a lot of different sort of things. I guess it's eclectic–I feel that's kind of cliché. It's pretty relaxed, since I live in LA.
HB: What's the one thing in your closet you can't live without?
O: The one thing I could not live without would probably be this really simple long, white and blue and gold dress that my friend gave me in Japan actually when I was 15. And it's the most comfortable dress. There's never a time when I haven't wanted to wear this dress.
HB: Do you think there are any parallels between your fashion sense and your taste in music?
O: Yeah, I think so. There are different genres of music and different time periods of music, but I might get interested in the clothing from that time period as well, or something. Or there might be an artist that I think has incredible style and I'll find out what they're wearing for the hell of it.
HB: What do you want people to take away from your music?
O: A takeaway is that when they hear it, they're able to sort of go in that same mindset as when you're dreaming. But incredibly relaxed, and just forget about all your numerous cares and responsibilities of life. When I listen to music, it's such a beautiful place to go to because it's just somewhere that can make you feel so many things but it's not exactly reality.
"Odessa" is now available iTunes and Spotify.
Watch the music video for "Hummed Low" below, which premiered yesterday:
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