IRELAND HAS no shortage of singer-songwriters. You cannot step into any music venue without encountering some hopeful, strapped with an acoustic guitar, proclaiming ‘three chords and the truth’.
To be blunt, there are too many of them. Precious few are of the calibre of Ann Scott, Damien Dempsey, or David Kitt and lack that trio’s genuine original spark and individuality.
Yet, here and there, from among the masses of hopefuls, dreamers, and chancers, emerge a few young songwriters with real potential, a willingness to think differently, and who show promise for the future. One such individual is Wexford born singer-songwriter Clare Odlum, who goes under the name ODi.
ODi will play Underground Live! at De Burgo’s on Thursday July 31 in an excellent bill that also includes guitar/electronica duo Mirikal Whip, So Cow, The Brno Chairs, and Agitated Radio Pilot. On the night she will play songs from her forthcoming EP, A Superman, her third release after the singles ‘What You Deserve’ and ‘Crawl’.
What gives A Superman promise is that each track - though based around one voice and an acoustic guitar - has a different feel, style, and point of view. ‘A Superman’ is big sounding, epic, and full of swelling, dramatic strings. ‘What You Deserve’ has a more languid feel, with a beguiling chorus. ‘Crawl’ hints at PJ Harvey/indie influences, while ‘Tears & Wine’ is slice of life tale of a female painter trapped in an abusive relationship. ODi also has a powerful voice, one that knows when to be dramatic and when to be soft and laid back.
“I didn’t want it to sound like ‘just another singer-songwriter’,” Clare tells me as we sit for the interview in the Róisín Dubh on a Friday afternoon. “That’s the way hopefully the album will go. ‘A Superman’ has a soundtrack feel and that goes with the title. It’s about seeing someone’s weaknesses and letting them know it’s OK, that they don’t have to do everything on their own.
“Cora Venus Lunny did the strings. It was inspiring to watch her work. She had one listen to the song and started playing ideas over it and then had a rough idea of what she wanted to do. I’d love her to work on the album as well but she is a busy lady.”
The EP was produced by Ken McHugh - the man behind Autamata - while ‘What You Deserve’ was produced by Karl Odlum. “Everybody thinks he’s my brother,” says Clare, “but he’s not. We’re very distant relatives.”
ODi is backed by Sean O’Leary (drums ) and Dave Redfearn (guitar ), whom she describes as “a mentor and an adviser”.
“Dave is quick coming up with extra parts that add to the tracks and he’s very sensitive to what is needed,” she says. “He doesn’t go all Brian May on it. He knows what works and what doesn’t. He went to the University of Huddersfield and played in a band for 10 years. When they split up I pounded on him!”
ODi was born into a musical family in Wexford (“My dad was in a band in Wexford and plays guitar and piano. My granny is very into musicals and my aunt was an opera singer,” she says ) but it was only in late 2005 she started to think about pursuing a career in music. Her time studying in the University of Huddersfield and living in Leeds - where she is now based - was important in this. It all begins with how she acquired her stage name.
“When I was in university there were three Clares and two were from Ireland,” Clare tells me. “We both couldn’t be ‘Irish Clare’ and ‘English Clare’ so my friend nicknamed me Odi after Odlum and it stuck. It’s easy to remember as well.”
The use of a capital O and D with a lowercase i came from a mix of Myspace and a printing error on a gig poster.
“When I was setting up my Myspace page I Googled ‘Odi’ and there was about 50 of them but none had that spelling so I did that to make it stand out. It was also an error on a poster but it looked good so I though ‘We’ll use that!’”
After university, Clare came back to Ireland, took some time out to travel, and returned to Britain where she did some modelling. Perhaps that’s not surprising given how tall - and indeed striking looking - she is. Clare laughs at the suggestion however.
“My great grandad was Norwegian and my cousins are all similar,” she says. “We’re told we wouldn’t look out of place in Norway.”
While the modelling brought in money, it was not what Clare wanted to do with her life. Finding herself at a loose end, she picked up the guitar and began playing.
“During that time the Myspace thing happened and I set up a page,” she said. “Then people started emailing me asking ‘When’s your next gig?’ I though I’d better start doing something and show my face so I started going to the open mics in Leeds. It was very encouraging as everybody tries to help each other. The Leeds music scene is very supportive. Once you start on the open mics promoters start to know your name and ask you to play gigs.”
Doors open at 8.30pm. Admission is €10. See also www.myspace.com/odimusic
