New Orleans-based singer-songwriter Julie Odell shares new single “Envelope” taken from her forthcoming debut album Autumn Eve, out September 30th via tastemaker label Frenchkiss Records (Local Natives, Passion Pit, The Drums).  “Envelope” is another example of prime storytelling from Odell, full of compassion and emotional vigor, the song builds to a crescendo and therein soothes the soul. On the new single Odell offers “I received a letter in the mail checking in to see how I was doing, expressing love and friendship and I was inspired to write this song. It’s so nice to have such a simple, sweet, and genuine gesture show up in my mailbox. So I wanted to write a song that makes a huge deal about it.”

Musically, Autumn Eve is as much about transformation as the lyrics. Her flickering quiet-loud dynamics are an integral part of the album, and she attributes these exploding and collapsing sounds to the rapidly changing landscapes she used to watch through the window of her parent’s van as a child – with views alternating between deserts, mountains, and the ocean. Her music is folky, dreamy, and soulful, marked by her powerful, peculiar vocals, detailed textures, and an instinct for immediate songcraft. Her songs are complex and multifaceted, in part because they don’t follow expected trajectories or settle into long stretches of even-keeled languor. “Internally I always feel either really chaotic or really calm,” Odell says. “So, it’s a lot of really loud, fast-paced stuff, and then it’ll shrink down to really quiet delicate things. I’m obsessed with dynamics.” Odell wanted to be a meteorologist when she was a kid, chasing tornadoes in a van with all her friends. Although she chose a life as an artist instead, she reckons she’s chasing musical tornadoes, since her songs are wispy, unpredictable beasts.

Photo Courtesy: Olivia Perillo