Her debut came out in the balmy days pre Covid, however Cambridge resident Odette Michell has been anything but idle in the intervening years, here she’s graduated to the ranks of artists on one of our favourite labels, Talking Elephant, who have cannily signed her for this second issue, a collection which shows an increase in both maturity and deft songwriting across a range of moods and inspirations. You don’t get the likes of Phil Beer, Chris Leslie and Stu Hanna working with people they don’t respect and value, so that alone should tell you her work is worth hearing.
She’s a busy individual, besides a solo career she’s one third of the new aggregation, Michell, Pfeiffer & Kulesh, Daria Kulesh shares vocal duties here, others include Ninebarrow and Calum Gilligan, Stu Hanna produces and shapes an appealing item with care and sympathy. As a writer, Michell tries to keep hold of folk form and sentiment in her compositions, making each one personal at some level and you’ve got to hand it to her she succeeds splendidly. They sound like folk songs, they deal with folk song themes but at the same time they’re melded with a piece of her.
Subject matter varies widely, ‘Hourglass,’ references the changing of the seasons and passage of time over a cyclical melody with a great counter line, her softer tones blending with Gilligan’s earthy Irish lilt. ‘St. Helens,’ a jaunty dive into family history, has at the centre a woman with bold vision and determination, a Celtic edge and swing to the tune does it no end of favours creating an enticing track which grabs your attention from the off. Contrast that with what is essentially a traditional ballad turned neatly on its head, ‘Flowers,’ a co write with Kulesh, involves three sisters and a ruffian, a knife and bad intentions- you all know the plot, “don’t go down to the greenwood.” Suffice to say, the shoe here is on the other foot and Michell’s witty writing ensures our heroines survive with a smile on their faces.
You’ll do Odette Michell no favours if you approach her with comparisons in mind, forget it, she’s her own lady. Her music, sophisticated and seductive is her own as well. Touring across the year, catch her live, daring to be different.
Simon Jones.
www.talkingelephant.co.uk
