Photo: Press
The hype around Tom Odell when he first came to the attention ahead of his BRIT Award win was pretty deafening. Since then, he's been hiding away from the pressure and been relentless touring and building a solid fan base. Now, he's on the eve of releasing his hotly-anticipated debut album, Long Way Down.
Adored by his fans and the darling of many critics, Tom has quite a lot to live up to already at such an early stage of career. It can't be easy when an influential wing of the music media is willing you to fail (with the NME comparing your debut to 'syphillis')
With his debut album ready to drop and the world waiting to see if he can fulfill his promise, we talk to Tom Odell about Long Way Down, taking his time, what the future may hold, and dealing with criticism...
How does it feel that the release of your album is so close after what must feel like such a long wait?
I feel good. It's exciting.
Excellent. With all of the gossip and the hype that surrounded you around the time of the Brit Awards, people may have this impression of 'Tom Odell the star'. How do you feel about the way the media has portrayed you and do you feel touched by fame at all?
I think briefly, yes, but I'm quite glad that I've had time to breathe and make the album and tour and let people see what I'm really about and get to know the music. Instead of being hyped and frantically rushed, it's nice that I've got to know people and they've got to know the real me.
It's been a whirlwind of a year so far. How do you feel about being overwhelmed by success once the album is out?
I'll just have to see what happens. I'm really excited for it to be out and for people to hear it.
You've had a great deal of critical praise so far. Have you received much negative feedback? How do you cope with that?
You're never going to please everybody. If you start striving and believing that you can then that's when you worry too much and start reading everything that's said about you. When people are being nasty, they're not talking to you - they're talking about it. It just takes some getting used to. That's one of the things that you have to deal with.
Where would you say that the album takes the Tom Odell sound?
I hope people hear that the album has a bit more of a story. It's not just about the end of a relationship, there are a lot more feelings and ideas on there. There are moments of elevation on there and I want people to feel like they've been on a journey.
Debut albums are tricky. Is this one of the cases where it encompasses everything that you've done since you started out or did a lot of it start from scratch quite recently?
I always planned for the album to be whatever I was doing at that time. It's very much about the time I was writing it and what I was listening to. Since I recorded it I've been recording some other stuff.
Interesting. So how do you see your sound evolving from here?
I don't know. I don't have any preconceptions about it, I just let the music do it. I definitely feel like I want to keep the music very live. On this album I kept things very basic and we used very little technology with very little chopping and changing. I want to keep it raw and not too audibly perfect. A lot of music is made on computers and it makes everything sound huge, but I didn't want to do that. I wanted the music to have emotion and feeling.
So we won't be hearing a Tom Odell EDM album soon?
No.
Do you listen to much of that kind of stuff?
Yeah, I do. I like James Blake a lot and I love the Disclosure album.
Would you ever consider writing songs for other people?
Maybe. I've tried it in the past, and I think that as long as you've got a reason to connect with it and not just mindlessly sitting in a room, co-writing something and waiting until the songs come. As long as there's an intent and a reason to be there then why not. Right now I'm just writing on my own and I'll let the album speak for itself.
You yourself are a tip for huge things in 2013. Who are your tips to do big things this year?
I think Chloe Howl is really good, it's really refreshing pop music. Obviously it's great to see Disclosure doing so well.
'Another Love' by Tom Odell is out now - and set to hit the Top Ten this week
Tom Odell is set to play a string of UK summer festivals before a full headline tour in October:
Saturday 12th - Cardiff Uni Great Hall
Sunday 13th - Cambridge Corn Exchange
Tuesday 15th - Leeds o2 Academy
Wednesday 16th - Glasgow Academy
Thursday 17th - Edinburgh Picture House
Saturday 19th - Manchester Academy
Sunday 20th - Newcastle o2 Academy
Tuesday 22nd - London Shepherds Bush Empire
Wednesday 23rd - London Shepherds Bush Empire
Thursday 24th - Norwich UEA
Saturday 26th - Birmingham Institute
Sunday 27th - Nottingham Rock City
Tuesday 29th - Bristol o2 Academy
Wednesday 30th - Sheffield o2 Academy
Thursday 31st - Liverpool o2 Academy
For more information visit Gigwise Gig Tickets
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