The indie music scene is among the most diverse and ever-evolving genres. From Indie pop to Indie trap to Indie folk, there are so many different ways to approach music. Odie Leigh is an amazing rising star who has dipped her toes into several of the genre’s flavors.
Who is Odie Leigh?
Singer/songwriter Odie Leigh is an Indie artist in her late 20s. She grew up in Louisianna singing at her local church, but never thought she’d be an artist in the music sense. She planned to unleash her creativity through film rather than song, but in 2020 her life drastically changed. During the pandemic, a couple of her friends and roommates made a bet to see who could go viral first. Odie, slightly peeved by being excluded from the bet, said hold my beer and went VIRAL, launching her music career.
Singles
Her first-ever single, “Ronnie’s Song“, was released in 2021. It’s a sweet little diddle written to cheer up a friend with an acoustic backing and a folk feel. In the same year, following Ronnie’s Song, she released “Bigger Fish“, one of my favorites from her discography. “Bigger Fish” also has a lovely folk feeling, beautiful harmonies, and a simple message: Be Kind. The message applies to others but seems mostly for herself, with the lyrics mentioning what could be considered faults. “The Beast“, her third single, is about struggling to find yourself after a falling out with someone. Many of Odie’s early songs are about how people attach so much of their identities to who they are in the context of others and rediscover themselves after they leave. “Nothing New” is her fourth single, which is about how change is a constant in everyone’s life and how we’re forced to confront this and many other hard truths.
EP’s
How Did it Seem To You?
This EP is the one I have found most intimately familiar, almost uncomfortably so. How Did it Seem to You? Consists of five tracks: “A Month or Two”, “Nine Lives”, “Habits Held”, “Crop Circles”, and “Take Back”. The tracks range from slow and warm to bright and jovial. The clear standout is far and away “Crop Circles”, in which Odie sings about knowing the way you’re currently functioning just isn’t working and the desire to change but finding yourself struggling to move. “Crop Circles” is painfully intimate and so relatable that I find myself staving off tears nearly every time I listen.
How Did It Seem To You? -Treehouse Tape Session
Same EP, even more intimate. On a tape recorder, Odie recorded the songs in a tree house in Tennessee. The songs are noticeably more raw and less produced. You can even hear crickets in the background of some of the tracks.
The Only Thing Worse Than A Woman Who Lies Is a Girl Who’ll Tell Truths
Anyone who has ever been in a situationship can relate to this EP. Similar to her first EP, the songs range in cadence, but this EP has a more apparent theme of being confident with the person you find while growing up. The title comes from the melody of the first track, “Accommodating”, where Odie looks back on a failed relationship and all she gave up to keep it together. My favorite is “Chutes & Ladders”, which is about falling in love with someone you know isn’t falling for you, and finally leaving because you know it’s better for you in the long run. Many of the tracks on the EP look back on relationships with wisdom rather than malice.
Album
Carrier Pigeon
Her first studio album, Carrier Pigeon, departs from her original Folk style, venturing into indie Pop with a hint of her roots. In an interview, Leigh spoke about the album’s name, explaining that she saw the actual production of the album as similar to writing a message down and tying it to a carrier pigeon; it might get to its destination, but who knows when. The album has ten tracks, three of which were released as singles. My recommendations from the albums are “Either Way”, “Idiom”, and “My Name on a T-Shirt”. “Either way” reminds me of my desire to understand what my boyfriend is thinking when we’re lying in bed at the end of the day. It’s about the wondering that everyone experiences in a relationship. “Idiom” is far more somber. It’s about the insecurities we carry into our relationships and the consequences of letting them go unaddressed. “My Name on a T-Shirt” is about dashed hopes for a relationships at its very beginnings. The story behind the song is exactly how she recounts it in the song. Leigh had started a relationship with someone which sort of fizzled, but not fully. When one of the shows on her tour stopped in their city he brought his new girlfriend to her show while he wore a T-shirt with her name on it. This is just one example of how relatable and comforting her music can be.