The Daily Spin, December 29
ODESZA | A Moment Apart
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite songs from each album right here.
Album: A Moment Apart (2017)
Artist: ODESZA
Link:
One of the most challenging things about this whole process, much to my chagrin, has actually been speaking about albums that I truly love. Trying to figure out the best way to convey what it means to me, the joy that I feel when I put it on - that’s vulnerability, in a sense.
Few albums are more difficult for me to describe in this regard than A Moment Apart, and it’s partially why it was the last ODESZA album that I put on the review list and definitely why it was the last one to be scheduled.
I’m of two minds regarding this album.
The first is this - following In Return, ODESZA came back and turned all the dials to eleven, taking big-room aesthetics and throwing them over festival spaces. This is music meant to be heard from all corners, and most of the time, they execute on this premise - even the string arrangements and supporting instrumentals have this sweeping quality to them, as though you should be engaging with them in such a manner that it can wash over you.
The second is this - following the commercial success of some of their tracks, ODESZA realized that it was time to migrate towards the poppier sphere. Again - they execute on this premise decently well, with only a couple tracks that could even vaguely be considered missteps - and considering that it’s a roster of largely underground features, I think it’s all the more impressive.
What seals it for me is how well these two halves work together - for a dichotomy that could easily be ruinous, I think ODESZA executes it rather strongly - and though I’ll always be a fan of their more bombastic movements, this new blend has grown on me quite a bit.
Rating: 9.6/10
Best Tracks: Across the Room; Falls; La Cuidad
Worst Tracks: Higher Ground