Tom Odell - Best Of Friends

Cover versions are quite environmentally friendly aren’t they? They're music’s version of recycling. Why waste valuable human resource writing something new when you can just take someone’s good idea, put your own stamp on it and be done with it – you don’t even have to go the bin or recycling station to put the previously used one away.

So here’s Tom Odell’s bit for the environment – a cover version of indie rockers Palma Violets Best of Friends taken from the Daytrotter Recordings, a limited 12" vinyl EP of live covers recorded for Record Store Day. Of course vinyl itself is arguably more environmentally friendly than disposable media forms such as CD’s, with vinyl being seen as more collectable and therefore less likely to be discarded into landfill and even when it is dumped at the tip the material itself is easier to recycle.

However, we digress, this blog isn’t an advert for sustainability, it’s about music.

So take a listen to Odell’s cover. Just his voice and a piano, the simplicity of this recording is more effective than when he’s bashing it out in the middle of the road with a band. Having won the Brits Critics Choice Award earlier this year, featured in the BBC Sound of 2013 poll and not forgetting that he was named as one of Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch back in November 2012, Odell finally releases his album on June 24th.

Tom Odell - Best of Friends

Tom Odell - Hold Me (Video)

Here’s the new video for Hold Me from Brits Critics Choice Award winner and more importantly (well to us anyway) Breaking More Waves One to Watch 2013 #6 Tom Odell.

Take a second to remember where you were and how you were feeling before you pressed play on this one; it’s important. For it’s the point where you make the momentous discovery that Tom Odell has made a radical change in direction. As you watch the video on the device of your choosing you will almost certainly be overcome with emotions in the same way that Dylan fans felt when he plugged in an electric guitar rather than an acoustic. 

For this (dramatic pause for effect)……. is the moment when Tom Odell abandons the chair and stands up.

Yes as unbelievable as it is, Tom Odell plays piano standing up on this one; at least for some of the time. At certain points he seems to have difficulty remaining on two feet, instead  crawling around on the floor (1.59) and there are moments in the video (such as at 0.50) where he does try to compromise a little so as not to alienate his original fans by seating his bottom down, which is odd because at other points (0.25 for example) there’s nothing to sit on, suggesting that someone failed on the continuity factor when it came to the piano stool in this video.

But then really nobody cares about these minor technical details like this on Valentine’s day do they? All we really want on this day of love is Tom Odell bashing away, looking at you in the eyes with deep meaningful intensity and as he does so and asking you to hold him. It’s a beautiful thing and ends with Tom spent and exhausted on the floor. Lovely.

Tom Odell - Hold Me (Video)

Ones to Watch 2013 - #6 Tom Odell

Our sixth One to Watch for 2013 is Tom Odell. He’s the first male soloist on our list. It was only last month that he was introduced on Breaking More Waves.

Odell is a London via Brighton via Chichester singer songwriter that has been touted as a sensitive, good looking, post-Buckley type and that’s probably a good enough box to put him in. His classic style of pop songwriting has had a renaissance recently; witness the recent success of the likes of Lana Del Rey’s Video Games, Adele’s Someone Like You and Jake Bugg’s number 1 album in the UK. It’s this old fashioned school of composition that Odell comes from, plus there’s an honesty and openness to his lyrics that deal with his own (often sad) real life experiences.

It’s not quite clear yet if he’s going to end up being the piano version of Ed Sheeran, a more emotionally charged indie-folk-rock version of Jamie Cullum or find himself worshipped by fans of Coldplay who wish that Chris Martin would just go off and do that intimate intense ivories solo album that you just know he wants to do, but with Lily Allen (now Lily Rose Cooper) backing him with her new label he has some financial weight to take him where he wants to go.

Odell is supporting the aforementioned Jake Bugg and The Mystery Jets this month, but it surely won’t be long before he’s playing shows that leave his own fans breathless. 2013 looks bright for Tom Odell.

Tom Odell - Another Love (Video)

Tom Odell - Sense (Demo)

Tom Odell - New Waves

Tom Odell’s Myspace page (yes he’s keeping it 2006 ) includes Jeff Buckley, Ben Folds and Elton John amongst his top ‘friends’.  Add in a bit of Coldplay’s quieter moments, some Billy Joel and the restraint of James Blake and his musical venn diagram is complete. Yes, this troubadour tinkles with the ivories, and to some effect.

Originally hailing from Chichester before re-locating to Brighton, Odell has now moved to London having secured a record deal. He’s been lined up to support Jake Bugg on his winter tour and it’s not difficult to imagine that from there bigger and better things will develop, although ultimately that will be in the hands (and ears) of the public.

So why do we think those bigger and better things might happen? Certainly the backing of a major label helps in terms of exposure and distribution, but the most important factor here is the music. Full of emotional expression and torch song stillness Odell’s songs seem to have been crafted for venues such as churches and theatres rather than the scuzzy toilet venues of the world of indie rock. Another Love (the title track of his forthcoming debut EP) is nothing more than stunning. A sensitive ballad that vocally sounds not that far distant from ex-X Factor turned credible pop man Aiden Grimshaw, it’s at its most commanding when choir backing vocals unburden themselves briefly halfway through. Take a listen below and watch Odell perform another song Sense on video, shot in muted brown colour in one continuous single camera shot. If sensitive young men with a weight of seriousness on their laps are your thing, you'll probably love Tom Odell.

Let’s see what this piano man does next.

Tom Odell - Another Love

Tom Odell - Sense (Video)