Its been two years since the duo of Clayton Knight and Harrison Mills took the electronic music world by storm with their first LP Summer’s Gone. Listeners found themselves entranced by the unique and lush sounds that treated their ears on tracks like “How Did I Get Here” and “I Want You” and were quickly clamoring for more. The fellas did not disappoint, releasing their second album My Friends Never Die a short year later. Featuring songs like “My Friends Never Die” and “Keep Her Close” the pair showed that the hurdle of the dreaded sophomore album wouldn’t prove a problem by having three of the five songs hit the #1 spot on Hype Machine’s Popular Chart.
After their incredible success Pretty Lights asked them to join him on his fall 2013 tour as one of his supporting acts. I had a chance to catch up with Clayton on the phone during his album release day and asked him: what was your “We made it moment?”
We had just played Summer Stage in Central Park and everyone (my tour manager, booking agent) was with us and it was just a great experience.
We quickly shifted the conversation to In Return, a 13 track collection that continues the duo’s musical journey. It is said that the first album is 26 years in the making (they both graduated college in 2012) and now this third album only a year after MFND. In a genre that is plagued by repetition I asked how important it was for them to evolve their sound in an effort to keep the listener engaged and interested, as well as the challenge this proved:
We spend a lot of time trying to push ourselves and don’t like to get too comfortable. We’re always trying to learn new things, craft new sounds. Always listening to new things on SoundCloud because if you’re not evolving and learning something new you’re stagnant and you’re not pushing yourself the way you need to be pushed. It’s definitely a task (evolving) I love to get in my own bubble while making my music so I kinda block out the other stuff I’m hearing and try to take a unique perspective and working inside that framework gives a personal touch to my music and that’s what has led to our ability to create a distinctive sound.
I cannot stop listening to “Say My Name” and “White Lies” do you have a favorite song off the album?
I really enjoy “Its Only” she did a really good job with the songwriting on that one. And “All We Need” I love Shy Girls vocals and he’s just absolutely killing it on that track.
The guys collabed with Shy Girls, Zyra, Jenni Potts, Py, Briana Marela, and Madelyn Grant on In Return. In the past you’ve sampled Lily Allen, Gotye, and Alicia Keys; what was it like working with original vocalists on the album?
It was definitely a unique experience. We usually work on a track and add these vocals and build tracks around the vocals but with the vocalists we kind of had to build the music first, write the music first, and then have the vocalists sing over them. Then kind of rework them so it was kind of a backwards process from what we’re used to but it was definitely a lot of fun and I learned so much and I have a bunch of good ideas for future sounds.
Along the same lines, how much of this album was outboard produced ie. how much was recorded vs sampled? You both said that you want to move away from samples and into more original instrumentation ala Pretty Lights on ACMOTS, how do you feel this approach to producing differs?
It’s a different take and it takes a little bit more time to craft the sounds you want to make. We kind of start a song with a sample in it and work it to the point where we don’t even need the sample so in the end well just take out the sample and hopefully the song will hold on its own without it. The samples now have become more like idea starters and then we go about removing them and create all original work. I think you kind of get your own unique sound when you’re doing all of it.
I read in another interview that you’re looking to evolve your live instrumentation (I believe you said you bought an MPC) and if I’m not mistaken you DJ live with the APC40. Why do you feel the need to evolve your live show? Do you think that this style of DJing will become/should become the industry standard?
Yes we use the APC40 for our live sets. I have all the drum and bass for each song mapped out on my computer so I have really fine tuned control over each drum section. And then Harrison has all the top lines, the vocal melodies and synth melodies, anything above the 500 frequency range.
I think that as time goes on that (live instrumentation) will be the future. It gives you so much more control on the Live (Ableton) and you can jam more so and its become a more live experience as opposed to the two channel mixer when the creative process is blending the two tracks but after they blend you kid of just sit there. Being able to fine tune each individual piece of a song will hopefully be the future because it allows so much more freedom to creative more interesting sounds.
I could talk about the album all day long, but lets move away from it for a minute to get to know you both on a more personal level.
When yall played “My Friends Never Die” at Hudson I sunk a foot into the mud, what is your favorite song to play live?
“My Friends Never Die” is definitely up there, “Sun Models” has gotten some really good response and that’s always fun to play. The Pretty Lights edits have also done really well.
What do you enjoy that isn’t music? Game of Thrones? Fifa? Billiards?
I’ve been trying to get back into reading so I picked up Game of Thrones and I’m highly addicted to those that consumes a lot of time. Video games here and there but basically just a lot of SoundCloud time. We just love to dig and look for music so I’ll spend hours a day sifting through online music and trying to hear new stuff. Music is basically on my mind 110%.
I know you’re big fans of Yahtzel, Wafia, and Pham, anyone else you could turn us onto that you believe deserves more attention?
Yeah big fans. We actually got to meet him (Yahtzel) in Australia when we played a little festival out there. The new Banks album, been listening to that for quite a while, looking forward to that album. Big Wild is one we got in contact with… Keys N’ Krates came out with a new EP that I really liked. Quentin Fox and Guy Wolf they’re a little heavier EDM, really fun to listen to.
Last question, some people would say you’re living the dream. Whats the last thing you think about before you fall asleep and the first thing you think about when you wake up?
The most creative hours of the day for me are usually between midnight and three in the morning. So I’ll usually fall asleep with this track in my head and singing the words. So when I wake up I usually have all these new ideas that I dreamed about that I will try to incorporate into that song.
Big thanks to Clayton Knight for taking the time to speak with us about ODESZA and the album!
Purchase ODESZA’s “In Return” Album
ODESZA Tour Dates
Fri. Aug. 8 – Tidewater, OR @ Tidewater Falls (Beloved Festival)
Sun. Aug. 10 – Salmo, BC @ Salmo River Ranch (Shambhala Music Festival – The Grove)
Fri. Sept. 13 – Jackson Hole, WY @ Mangy Moose (Teton Gravity Research Film Premiere After Party)
Thu. Sept. 18 – San Francisco, CA @ Mezzanine
Fri. Sept. 19 – San Francisco, CA @ Mezzanine
Sat. Sept. 20 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
Sun. Sept. 21 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern
Tue. Sept. 23 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom
Thu. Sept. 25 – Austin, TX @ Vulcan Gas Company
Fri. Sept. 26 – Dallas, TX @ Trees (Index Festival)
Sat. Sept. 27 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
Tue. Sept. 30 – Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall
Wed. Oct. 1 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
Thu. Oct. 2 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Fri. Oct. 3 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Sat. Oct. 4 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Mon. Oct. 6 – Toronto, ON @ The Mod Club Theater
Wed. Oct. 8 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig
Thu. Oct. 9 – Columbus, OH @ The Basement
Fri. Oct 10 – Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
Sat. Oct. 11 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theater
Sun. Oct. 12 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
Wed. Oct. 15 – St. Louis, MO @ Firebird
Thu. Oct. 16 – Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck
Fri. Oct. 17 – Lincoln, NE @ Vega
Sat. Oct. 18 – Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
Sun. Oct. 19 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
Tue. Oct. 21 – Vancouver, BC @ Venue
Wed. Oct. 22 – Vancouver, BC @ Venue
Fri. Oct. 24 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox at the Market
Sat. Oct. 25 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
Sat. Jan. 1-6, 2014 – Miami, FL @ Holy Ship
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