ODESZA offers one last preview of incoming senior album with ‘Light Of Day,’ ft. Ólafur Arnalds

July 14, 2022

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ODESZA is rounding out the pre-releases on their next long-form project, The Last Goodbye, which begins the weeklong countdown to their fourth studio album release. Landing as the sixth and final single to come from their impending LP, “Light Of Day” is an extended track featuring the elegant arrangements of Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist Ólafur Arnalds.

Clocking in at nearly seven minutes in length, the track is a testament to ODESZA’s promise that they would be redefining their style on their next full album. It’s a promise that the Seattle-based duo has certainly lived up to, while also holding onto the defining elements of their earlier ODESZA style. “Light Of Day” bookends months of anticipation in the most intentional way. ODESZA speaks to this notion rather candidly: “‘Light Of Day’ was one of the first songs off the record we finished. It served as a bookend for the record—and really, a guiding light for the project as a whole.“

ODESZA says the following of the final release:

“This song started with Ólafur, an incredible artist and longtime friend, sending an initial idea our way. The vocal sample is from a 1970s folk song titled ‘Mary’ that we discovered digging through old records—featuring Stephen Ambrose. We see that vocal as a slow building mantra of sorts, something that we hoped would evoke this feeling of being at peace.”
– ODESZA

Leading off with Arnalds’ soft, subdued piano chords in the first 90 seconds, these uplifting melodies are compounded upon by gorgeous string arrangements to lay the groundwork for the song. Before too long, vocal samples taken from Stephen Ambrose’s “Mary” are introduced to the timeline as they float serenly atop ODESZA’s ethereal production touches. Each of the collaborator’s distinctive musical elements builds pristinely upon the next, culminating in darker, harder moments that are reminiscent of BRONSON and the progressive, cinematic moments that signal a nod to ODESZA’s original sonic fingerprint.

The rollout of ODESZA’s The Last Goodbye has been nothing else if not a whirlwind journey for their loyal fan following. Since cryptically teasing the project back in February, Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight have certainly kept each of their previous five pre-album releases entertaining. Each single has provided a new piece of the puzzle to the duo’s evolving style. Along the way, they’ve seen their LP’s title track featured during the NBA Finals and another tune used at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

ODESZA’s senior album is due out next Friday, July 22, via Foreign Family Collective/Ninja Tune.