Oddnesse beat to the tune of their own drum on their long-awaited debut EP ‘Overindulgence’, weaving together a compelling, cool record that is as vulnerable as it is uncompromising.
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Is it indulgent? Yes. Is there bravado and uninhibited passion? Absolutely. Are we left wanting more? You betcha.
there’s no doubt about it
I feel it too
the time has come,
and this is what we’ve got to do
we don’t have time to mop the blood
they’re at the door
go ahead and show ’em
what they came for
we don’t have time to hide the bags
underneath your eyes
surprise, everything you locked inside
is up there on display for all the world to see
oh my god, the things they must say about me
The Atwood Magazine team has been waiting for Oddnesse’ debut EP for nearly three years now, and as expected, the record is a hot, enchanting Overindulgence. The musical project of songwriter/producers Rebeca Arango and Grey Goon (Doug Walters) once again beat to the tune of their own drum on their long-awaited extended player, weaving together a compelling, emotional tapestry of sound that marries hopes and dreams with aches and pains.
Dream pop allure meets alt-pop fervor on a record that is as vulnerable as it is uncompromising: It’s Oddnesse at their finest, and we couldn’t ask for anything more.
There’s a reason Oddnesse have been an Atwood Magazine “artist to watch” for such a long time: The pair have released a slew of dazzling songs that consistently topple every expectation, beginning with 2016’s debut single “Somewhere Somehow,” and continuing through 2017’s “I Used To” (“a perfect, brooding dream pop concoction that captures pain and love, heartache and hope“), 2018’s “Scream,” 2019’s “Donut Shop” (“a sonically stunning and infectiously groovy treat worth every calorie“), and 2020’s Overindulgence.
At every step along the way, Rebeca Arango has exuded effortless cool: Finding the perfect balance between intimate vulnerability and calm, collected, and confident nonchalance, the frontwoman’s composure as she opens herself up is a sight (or sound?) to behold. Together, she and Grey Goon have developed a sonic aesthetic that soaks the audience in sweet and heavy emotion, daring us to explore our dark spaces but always offering a way out. Intense and catchy, driven yet fun, Oddnesse is the new fetch, and they’ve proven that five times over with Overindulgence.
From the naked, heart-on-sleeve outpouring on opener “Doing My Thing,” to the soothing, pulsing confessional closer “All American Lie,” Oddnesse take listeners on a journey that challenges us on an individual and societal level. How far that’s going to change things, we can’t say – but it’s a bold showing from a band that has always liked to push the envelope.
“I take my steak medium rare, count on me to pull the trigger when the crucial moment comes,” Arango sings in the fierce “Hannah Montana,” asserting herself as the badass we’ve always known her to be. “Count on me to light the fire, say a prayer… Just ask me to do the dishes, I will break them all, one by one. Now you see me working on the weekend, like a boss – just call me Tony Soprano, baby – I will run your mob.” Few artists could get away with such audacious lines totally unscathed, but Oddnesse have a way of making it work, and looking good while they do it.
now you see me working on the weekend like a boss
just call me Tony Soprano baby I will run your mob
I will tend the garden baby I will mind the flock
just call me Hannah Montana I will see you from the top
While it may only be five tracks and 17 minutes long, Overindulgence is still the thing we’ve been waiting for: A larger-scale display of creativity and intent that showcases those special quirks we’ve come to know and love in Arango and Walters’ project. Hopefully a debut album isn’t far behind (that’s right, we’ll always want more!), but for now we’re content to overindulge in this masterful, expressive collection. Oddnesse remain one of our favorite acts, proving themselves once again to be all that and more.
Enough of the platitudes. Experience the full record via the below stream, and peek inside Oddnesse’s Overindulgence EP with Atwood Magazine as the artist goes track-by-track through the music and lyrics of her long-awaited debut extended player!
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Stream: ‘Overindulgence’ – Oddnesse
:: Inside Overindulgence ::
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Doing My Thing
Some people come out the gate bold and strong enough to be an artist, follow their dreams, or what have you. For me, the pursuit has been up and down, marked by shame, perfectionism, and insecurity that I know a lot of us are working to overcome. It’s perfectly human. So this was my anthem to reclaim the birthright to express, no matter how vulnerable or messy.
The image in the chorus of being naked and afraid is a memory of a bad mushroom trip I had at age 20. It was profoundly terrifying, dredging up my worst fears of being seen. But it showed me that the situation is only in my head, that hell is created and destroyed in our own minds. The overindulgence here is fear.
Hannah Montana
At the time these lyrics came out of me, I was feeling powerful, productive, capable. I had also, for years been reflecting a lot about leadership and the responsibility for other’s lives – animal or human. It’s no surprise these two TV characters were lumped together – I grew up in the ’90s and early 2000s, there’s the Future song and Scarface character “Tony Montana,” and the syllabic symmetry of the two, so it’s no surprise these characters got lumped together.
They each represent to me opposite ends of this changing tide in the world, from tough, ruthless leadership to a softer, more nurturing power. Either way, you could say the overindulgence here was TV or power. This song is a power trip that ends tenderly.
Lover’s Calling
.I always identified more with Rizzo than Sandy, and yet I do feel guilty about it, though there are certainly worse things I could do. Falling out of “love” or infatuation with someone (so arguable. people dismiss teenage love- I did on “I Used To,” – at the same time it’s so real), sometimes you don’t even see it or accept it until an event or person awakens a different force inside of you. And then you’re called out of your status quo and compelled to burn everything down and be reborn.
Romantic as it sounds, the overindulgence here is lust.
Donut Shop
An LA anthem, an ode to my youth. I haven’t stayed out late enough to stumble into line at a donut shop at 5 am in years…I don’t know if it will ever happen again, but it lives forever in this song. The overindulgence here is escapism. Or sugar. Or fun.
All American Lie
So as much as I wanted to “do my thing” and really hustled at it on the side, mostly I was doing someone else’s thing. I was doing it out of love, appreciation and a desire to be of service, and yet I was also doing it out fear of financial insecurity and the need to have a certain professional “career” status…to be able to split the check at a restaurant without stressing. It’s such a crazy thing a lot of us can let our whole lives and selves just slip away. I do wonder deeply at the possibility of reincarnation, but I also think we’re best off living like there’s just one, as the cliches command. The overindulgence here is denial, but also material status.
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