Somewhere Between Chillwave And Synth Pop

Odesza maximized their soulful indietronica at this year’s Coachella, recruiting a horn section, two guest vocalists and the USC drum line for what Harrison Mills (CatacombKid) calls “the most intense moment” of their live career to date. “It was pretty overwhelming,” he says. “I think it couldn’t have gone any better, but I really didn’t know what to expect.” Mills and musical partner Clayton Knight (BeachesBeaches) have always embraced the unorthodox. The duo began collaborating as seniors at Western Washington University—blending lush electronic rhythms with exotic samples and suave pop grooves on their debut LP, 2012’s Summer’s Gone. Too accessible for chillwave, too textural for mainstream synth-pop, their songs brought out the best of both worlds. Last year’s In Return broadened the band’s festival appeal, utilizing bigger choruses (courtesy of singers like Zyra and Jenni Potts) and a beefier low-end presence. Only three years after their dorm room formation, Odesza are one of electronica’s savviest success stories—and now they’re spreading the love. Their latest project is the newly founded Foreign Family Collective, a platform for exposing their favorite under-the-radar musicians, filmmakers and visual artists to wider audiences. “We’ve wanted to do this for a really long time,” says Mills of the label, which has already spawned two hypnotic singles (from Big Wild and Troy Samuela & Monsoonsiren). “Now that we’ve built a team around us and gotten a little farther in this industry, we’re able to help our friends and other people that inspire us—to push them out into this over-saturated market.”