Odie Leigh Album Review: How Did it Seem to You?
“Oh-dee-lee"
A modern and fresh twist of folk music born from the pandemic out of a bet of what friend out of the group would go viral first. Lucky for us listeners, Odie won. This album makes me think of gazing out of a dirty window on a sunny spring day, listening to the cicadas sing and falling asleep on a porch swing in when the weather starts to get warm. Leigh’s first EP was released in 2022 and includes many of her hit singles that gained traction via TikTok. Leigh is currently in the American leg of her tour and will be hitting Atlanta soon with the Shaky Knees Festival!
Crop Circles
This acoustic song is as covered in folk elements as my car is coated in pollen. With its vibrant guitar led melody and Odie’s down to earth vocals, Crop Circles effectively shares the experiences of “growing pains” yet not seeing many changes in yourself while those around you start treating you differently:
“These days I've been lying about my age
Pretending I am older, worser, people stay away
Lately, I've been coming on too strong
To men, I've never seen before and won't see me for long
And I, I don't think I've changed
No, and I'm too scared to stay the same
So my carpets got crop circles
My carpets got crop circles these days”
The reference of “Crop Circles” could reflect the circle that is imprinted int the singer’s carpet from pacing around, thinking about how life turned out and whether or not she’s happy with it The circles in her carpet could also be left behind by those who stayed around long enough to make an indent in her home, but not long enough to be a part of it.
Nine Lives
Nine Lives is about the over dedicated love for someone who can never return the sentiment. Odie contrasts her life to that of a cat, while cats have nine lives to burn through and live recklessly, she only has two. One of which is being lived dedicated to her significant other.
“Cats have nine lives
I have two
I live one for me
And one for you
If I can dissolve I do
If I can dissolve I do
Spare a crumb, I'll take it
I said hold my hand, not break it
I'm trying to say this all makes sense considering
That I'm giving up again”
Her significant other hurts her doing simple gestures such as holding hands. Odie speaks of the tragedy of someone overtaking your life to the point where you minimize yourself to make them happy. The sadness portrayed in Nine Lives is not acknowledged by the singer as the finishing notes reaffirm
“If I can dissolve, I do
If I can dissolve, I do”
Letting the listener know that the solution to Odie is not to take back her life to live fully, but instead to accommodate her significant other by dimming her light.
Habits Held
Ever since I first heard this song, I held it close to my heart as I can relate to it on so many levels. Going through life I would often quit a bad habit just to pick up another one, and though smoking is used as a metaphor, her writing is clear with the intention of letting us know that some people are just as addicting as cigarettes, if not worse for you.
“I guess I quit smoking
In time to meet you
By swapping my poison
My bodies subdued
But how can I ever
Maintain that I've quit
When all that I've swapped out's
The flame I burn with”
By the end of the song Odie resolves to stick with the “evil” she knows and decides picking up smoking again would be a better path than the continued pursuit of this unhealthy relationship dynamic. Habits Held is simply a guitar and her vocals, but the song holds such a concise yet poetic layout that deserves recognition.
Odie Leigh is a poignant mix of genres and uses storytelling through her music. These naturistic and simple elements complement her graphics on Spotify and music videos. General themes of these graphics are a display of greenery, swift whizzing trees on a highway, strumming the guitar on an old wooden porch (her “treehouse tape sessions”), brandished with mixed media of the lyrics on screen depending on what song is playing.
Odie Leigh invokes a quintessential nostalgia through her music style and concise storytelling/ Folk and folk-inspired music tends to reach audiences that rarely get that niche musical itch scratched. Despite Odie Leigh not being a country artist, one could easily imagine her music in an Appalachian setting or a southern one with her naturistic imagery. The raw guitar and vocals might take you to the same place it takes me, which is an old wooden porch overlooking a vibrant green field. Listen to Odie Leigh on all platforms: YouTube, Spotify and Bandcamp! See Odie at the Shaky Knees Festival May 3-5th in Atlanta!
