Sydney singer songwriter Odette burst on to the scene last year with her stand-out debut single, ‘Watch Me Read You’. The song resonated strongly with its poetic, syncopated, spoken-word verses and landed at #56 on triple J’s 2017 Hottest 100. Now comes her debut album TO A STRANGER, a further insight into the world of this immense young talent, set for release on July 6 through EMI Music Australia.

‘To A Stranger’ was helmed by LA-based, Grammy nominated producer Damian Taylor (Bjork, The Prodigy, The Killers, UNKLE). From the promise of her early demo writing, Odette caught the eye of producers and songwriters like Charlie Hugall (Florence and the Machine, Ed Sheeran, Kaiser Chiefs), Jason Cox (Blur, Gorilliaz, Jamie T),  Alex Hope (Troye Sivan, Broods), Sarah Aarons (Zedd, Dua Lipa and vocalist on tracks with The Rubens & LDRU), Matt Hales (Aqualung, Lianne La Havas) and Paul Mac (The Dissociatives, Silverchair), all of whom clamoured to work with her over the past year and a half. 

Odette was born in England and raised in the inner western suburbs of Sydney and grew up with an eclectic musical palette. Her Zulu mother introduced her to African music, soul, funk and rhythm; while her English father, hailing from a long line of jazz pianists, introduced her to new wave, jazz and passed on his musical talents. She has played piano since she was a child and her highly emotive use of the instrument lives at the centre of her songs.

With her astute and worldly-wise songwriting belying her youth, ask this enigmatic, young artist what exactly she’s expressing, and like a true poet, she’ll humbly shrug off the complex tapestry of the song and say, “I just want to communicate how intensely I see things, I suppose.”