Tom Odell: The Monsters Tour at Thalia HallTuesday, April 12, 2022
Doors 6:30pm | Show 7:30pm // All Ages
Tickets: $25-40 // On sale Friday, July 16, at 10am CT
Away from all the noise of his various successes -- three UK top 5 albums including the platinum-selling, chart-topping Long Way Down; two top 10 singles; a 2013 Brit award for Critic's Choice -- there's one thing that's always kept Tom Odell grounded: songwriting. A classic songwriter in the mould of Elton John (a big fan, actually), Odell -- who was awarded a prestigious Ivor Novello for Songwriter of the Year in 2014 -- relied on his passion more than ever when it came to crafting his fourth album, the pop-leaning, emotionally-healing monsters (released July 9th). After a dark period of mental health stalked most of his 2018 and 19, Odell wrote his way through it, eventually letting down his guard and pouring his feelings on everything from anxiety to capitalism, toxic masculinity to politics, into a 16-track opus that feels like both a daring creative rebirth and a solidifying of Odell's strengths. It's all there in lead single, numb, which opens with Odell's unadorned vocal over sparse piano -- "I hold my hand over the flame, to see if I can feel some pain," he sings -- before eerie, wheezing electronics and layers of clipped beats cloak the song in a sticky sadness.
"I was writing songs like I always did but it wasn't until I started writing about stuff that was contributing to my mental health problems that I felt like a record was forming," he says of the album -- his first since 2018's 70s rock-leaning Jubilee Road -- which was started in May 2019 and finished in Odell's home studio between lockdowns in 2020. That thematic turning point came in the shape of the single "monster," which grabs hold of numb's inky molasses and confronts it head on.
Four albums into his career and Tom Odell has made a record that feels free of expectation. Free of other people's perceptions of who he is as an artist. While it was darkness that inspired him he's managed to transform that into a multi-layered, genre-bending pop album full of light, and hope, even in the strangest of times. monsters also represents the start of chapter two in Odell's ongoing musical journey. "I feel like I'll be doing this for as long as I can," Odell smiles. "I also feel like I do it for the right reasons -- because I love making music." He's confident, too, after a difficult few years lost in the wilderness. "I feel like I've got shit to say and I'm good at what I'm doing now."
Event Venue
Thalia Hall, 1807 S Allport St,Chicago,IL,United States
Tickets
USD 25 to USD 40