In April of last year, ODIE released his debut studio album Analogue. Now, over one year after his first LP’s arrival, the Toronto-to-Bay-Area singer-songwriter is revisiting Analogue for his latest music video; specifically, ODIE is teaming up with director Yumna Al-Arashi for the visual in support of "North Face."
"I always try every day to think about or just write something that happened in the day that was important to me," ODIE told Billboard when asked about the recording sessions that birthed Analogue cuts like "North Face." "The studio sessions were on and off, because we were pretty much living in the space that we were creating. Nothing was really forced or rushed — like, I didn’t have set times to record anything. One day I would feel something and I would make a song and finish it in 30 minutes. Some songs literally took two years to make … It was a process of me growing."
"As I started to understand music and did a lot of research on Fela Kuti, I learned how much meaning [he had] and how powerful the movement that Fela was pushing back in the ‘60s and ‘70s [was]. I realized how much power he had putting Afrobeat on to the world, and how the political relevance of it stuck," ODIE previously explained to Billboard, opening up about his primary influences and musical inspirations. "For me, just looking at someone who’s influenced people in general that’s huge for me.
"With Kid Cudi, he was the first artist I listened to, especially a black artist, that was sort of like, genre-bending. He was still hip-hop, but he was doing things that no one in hip-hop was doing. That really touched me," ODIE added. "The music that he was speaking was so real, and it dealt with a lot of personal issues. That was touching to me as well, because it was like finding yourself, and figuring out how to live in society."
Filmed in London, the music video for ODIE’s "North Face" record is available for viewing above.