Odesza - A Moment Apart

Odesza
A Moment Apart
2017
Spotify

It's been almost three years since Odesza burst onto the scene with In Return, their second record, and secured a spot as some of the best producers in the electronic world. Yet three years of constant touring, constant festivals and little in terms of new music meant fans were starting to get restless. Did they still have it in the tank or was In Return just a fluke? Then a cryptic post with a stream of all the tweets Odesza had been getting about where the new album was followed by a seemingly bungled dual single release all pointed to something amiss. Oh how wrong we were. The singles being released in pairs makes sense now because really the album doesn;t work when it's broken apart, each experience works with the other even if they aren't intimately connected. A Moment Apart is just that, its space from everything else where Odesza take full control. It's a lot like their live performances which are so immersive pulling everyone into this one orbit and this one sentiment. I was irked at first with the keys going into car ambient sounds on "Higher Ground" but when it comes after that "Intro" and the title track it just makes so much more sense. One of Odesza's great skills is taking somewhat obscure artists and letting them absolutely shine on their tracks and that extends to A Moment Apart as well. Sasha Sloan absolutely steals the show on "The Falls" a track would could actually end up being one of Odesza's biggest bangers. Their sound choices are always so interesting yet have this very singular quality; you know when you are listening to an Odesza track, and it means you are listening to something good.

There is this way that Odesza can take something so electronic but make it feel wholly organic. Tycho has a similar ability but in a totally different way. Because Odesza is grounded in making dance music it gives their songs this whole other element because making people fucking move is goal number one. There are times here and there where they can get to high minded for their own good like on "Corners of the Earth", yet they always manage to somehow bring it around. A Moment Apart is a so much more refined version of Odesza, where In Return  still had some pop elements to it, it's like they have boiled themselves down to their purest elements and the result is their final form. The track with Leon Bridges "Across the Room" is a great example of this. There likely is a version of this song where it sides to much with Leon's doo wop style, or goes to deep into Odesza's electronics but instead they find this absolutely perfect balance between the two, it's magical. The hour runtime is just perfect never once feeling overly long. Was three years to long to wait? Probably, but with music this good who really gives a shit? It's funny how a great album can make up for almost any time off and that time is quickly forgotten. Odesza have proven they ain't no fluke and A Moment Apart proves it in spades.

9.0 out of 10