Odesza Dreams of Composing Film Scores

Removed from the masses of young producers in EDM hot beds, the duo from the Northwest has forged an emotional sound.

“We never expected people to care this much about two kids who made most of their music in a basement, and basically still do,” explains Harrison Mills of Odesza. Mills and collaborator Clayton Knight are a producer duo out of Seattle who have forged their own  electronic sound from a predominantly folk and indie rock environment. When the two met, the bonded as the only people they knew who produced anything close to electronic music. At Western Washington University, guitars were still favored over MIDI keyboards. 

Odesza plays One Eyed Jacks Saturday night, and initially, the two established a partnership for the duration of just one EP, but there was a natural fit. Their fluid collaboration  yielded hits including “My Friends Never Die” and led them to create a full album and go on tour. A typical recording session will “start out with a simple idea--piano chords looped, and we’ll sit together and link up via MIDI and keep adding layers to the track until we get something cohesive,” then they fine-tune through plenty of trial and error, “YouTube videos, and mistakes.”

Reviewers often describe Odesza as "atmospheric," and it seemed natural that their dream project would be composing the score for a film. They're open for anything, from indie drama to sci-fi, but until such a project comes around, they're happy to continue experimenting. “We never expected people to care this much about two kids who made most of their music in a basement, and basically still do," Mills says. "We’re really excited that people are listening to our music, and now that we have all these ears on us, we want to take this opportunity and do something really interesting.”