I like it when a debut album – as “Maslow’s Songbook” from Irish singer songwriter ODi is – doesn’t sound like a debut album. After all, if you want to make a career in the music business then being confident and assured is pretty much an essential.
This is a polished album that quickly provides proof that much care was taken in its preparation and execution. It is very much a middle of the road album in that it mixes elements of folk, pop and rock into a whole that should be distinctly palatable to many with songs like “Real To Me” and “Leaving My Love in New York” have the mark of an old friend and you can easily see them scaling up to bigger audiences. Not content with aiming just at the mainstream, ODi then throws in a bit of quirkiness and indeed lyrical directness, particularly into “I’m Done”, that suggest she isn’t scared to follow her own path. My favourite, however, was “Make It Better” that evoked comparisons with Judie Tzuke. I have a fondness for intense ballads, you see.
ODi clearly knows how to write a commercial song and isn’t short of ideas to take things in other directions too. However, she also has a voice that is stamped with laconic individuality and I reckon that while her songs may go further than her, it is inevitable that it will be her version of her songs that comparison is made with. It might take a few plays of this album but I’m sure you will agree with me.