''Herald'' is the second studio album by Australian musician Odette, released on 5 February 2021 through

EMI Music Australia EMI Recorded Music Australia Pty Ltd (called EMI Music Australia until May 2013) is an Australian imprint of Universal Music Australia, formerly a subsidiary label of EMI Recordings Ltd and, between 1979 and 1996, that of Thorn EMI. It is Austr ...

. Supported by the singles "Feverbreak", "Dwell", and "Amends" and "Trial by Fire"—''Herald'' debuted and peaked at number 47 on the

ARIA Albums Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. At the

2021 ARIA Music Awards The 2021 ARIA Music Awards are the 35th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) and consist of a series of awards, including the 2021 ARIA Artisan Awards, ARIA Fin ...

, the album was nominated for Best Adult Contemporary Album and Best Blues & Roots Album and Eben Ejdne was nominated for Best Cover Art for this release. An extended version of the album titled ''Reprise'' was released on 13 September 2021.

Background

The album follows on three years after Odette's debut album, ''To a Stranger'' (2018), which received high critical acclaim and two

ARIA Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

nominations in the year of release. Discussing the album in a press release, Odette stated:

"This album is sort of a nuanced discussion of the positives and the negatives of
mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...
and also just being a human being. It talks about the realities of hurting others, the consequences of that, and even more so, it holds me accountable—it holds me to my word."

Recording

Odette collaborated with producer Damian Taylor during recording sessions, who previously produced her debut album.

Composition

The album as a whole discusses themes of transitioning from

adolescence Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human Developmental biology, physical and psychological Human development (biology), development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age o ...

to adulthood, and

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

, whilst "Dwell" is "anchored in Odette's own reflections on grief and the manifestations of emotional negativity." In an interview with

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

, Odette described the album as focussed sonically around "a classic scale with

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

elements."

Release

''Herald''s title and release date were announced on 20 October 2020. The album was released on 5 February 2021 on CD, LP, digital download, and

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

formats. A bone-coloured edition of the vinyl was also made available exclusively at Australian

JB Hi-Fi JB Hi-Fi Limited is an Australian consumer electronics retail company. It is publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Its headquarters are located in Southbank, Melbourne, Victoria. As of June 2024, the company operates 330 sto ...

stores.

Promotion

Singles

''Herald'' was supported by four singles. "Feverbreak", a collaboration with

Hermitude Hermitude are an Australian electronic music, electronic-Australian hip hop, hip hop duo, originating from the Blue Mountains (Australia), Blue Mountains, New South Wales. Biography Early years Multi-instrumentalists, Luke Dubber (a.k.a. Luke ...

, was released as the album's

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

on 14 February 2020. "Dwell" was released as the second single on 20 October 2020. "Amends" was released as the third single on 8 January 2021. "Trial by Fire" was serviced to Australian

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

as the album's fourth and final single on 14 May 2021.

Live performances

On 15 November 2020, Odette performed "Dwell" live for Australian live music program '' The Sound''. On 19 November 2020, Odette performed "Dwell" live on

's ''

Like a Version ''Like a Version'' is a long-running weekly segment on Australian youth radio station Triple J. It involves musicians playing two songs live in the Triple J studio, one of their own songs and then a cover version. The series was created by pres ...

'' segment, alongside a cover of

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

's " Thunderstruck".

Critical reception

''Herald'' received favourable reviews from

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

s. ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

''s Urbi Khan labelled it a "

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

album". Khan felt that " dettesheds her past self and creates the new out of the ashes". Guido Farnell from ''

The Music The Music was an English alternative rock band, formed in Kippax, Leeds in 1999. Comprising Robert Harvey (vocals, guitar), Adam Nutter (lead guitar), Stuart Coleman (bass) and Phil Jordan (drums), the band came to prominence with the releas ...

'' was positive in his review of the album, noting "there is great

poetic Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

intent driving her somewhat lovelorn lyrical observations."

Mid-year lists

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians * Odette – vocals (all tracks),

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

(1, 4, 8), piano (3, 10) * Damian Taylor – programming (1, 3, 4, 8) * Jasper Leak – bass (3) * Martin Mackerras – clarinet (3, 10), saxophone (3) * Kelly Pratt –

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

, clarinet,

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though ...

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, French horn, trumpet (4, 8) * Tam Altmann –

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

(10) Technical * Damian Taylor –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

, mixing *

Heba Kadry Heba Kadry is an Egyptian mastering engineer who currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. She is best known for her work with Björk, Beach House, Slowdive, The Mars Volta, Neon Indian, Wooden Shjips, Lightning Bolt, White Hills, Alex G, Futur ...

– mastering * Rohan Sforcina – engineering assistance (3, 10) * Chris Mclaughlin – engineering assistance (5, 6, 9, 11)

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2021 albums Odette (musician) albums Albums produced by Damian Taylor