Odesza, the indie-electronica duo from Seattle, recently played two back to back sold out shows in Atlanta at the Masquerade on Nov. 3 and 4. Members Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight started making music in 2012, around the time the two graduated from Western Washington University.
Their debut album, “Summer’s Gone,” was released in 2012, and since then they have risen swiftly to fame. They have performed at various music festivals and opened for several artists in the last two years. Some of “Odesza’s” most popular songs are “Say My Name” (ft. Zyra) and “Sun Models” (ft. Madelyn Grant).
An electronic show is tricky; there has to be a visual component, but it cannot be so aggressive that it takes away from the sound of the artist. Odesza had the perfect balance between a great visual show and an amazing sound. As they entered, the lights were bright white and flashed in rhythm to their drum beats. Then, as the show went on, different visuals that resembled water, fire and lanterns played behind them while the duo mixed their mesmerizing music.
While the opening acts to the show were rather mellow, Odesza started their set with “IPlayYouListen,” a song that perfectly captures the essence of their sound. They interspersed their more popular songs with their lesser known, more relaxed songs and kept the audience dancing. After a performance of their very popular remix of the song “Faded” by Zhu, they left the stage for hardly a minute before they were coaxed back for a spectacular encore.
The artists had a live band with them, including a trombonist and guitarist, which added to the experience of seeing this group live. Overall, seeing the instrumental parts in conjunction with the duo made for a unique experience. Additionally, while typical electronic artists tend to stick to their
mix boards or fiddle with their Mac in between songs, Mills
and Knight incorporated a drum set into their concert.
Despite playing for a couple of hours, Mills and Knight were energetic throughout the whole performance. The audience could feel the passion they had and music they made as they pumped out their energetic beats. Additionally, the Masquerade is a cozy venue, which made the audience feel much closer to the performers.
The audience itself was very lively, and did not stop moving all night; they kept dancing and cheering as Mills and Knight played the night away, with their gradually building melodies. In a normal electronic show, there is a distance between the performer and the audience; Odesza bridged that gap with a combination of music, visuals and overall stage presence, bringing a warm comfortable emotion to a normally distant concert experience.