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Isaac Edwards and Michael Tapscott met in 2004 in Bloomington, Indiana on the cusp of finishing college with no plans. Naturally, they started a band...even though neither men were musicians or had ever been in a band before. They moved out to the countryside of Elletsville, Indiana, then they moved to Indianapolis, Indiana. From there, they moved to Chicago, Illinois, then they moved once again to Berkeley, California.

On their third Jagjaguwar release The Blue Depths, ODAWAS makes a warmer, more sensual turn in sound, leaning heavier on its cinematic influences. Recorded during one of the worst Chicago winters in three decades, the mood of the album seems to foretell of Odawas recent relocation to Berkeley's more lush, coastal environment. It's as if the band warmed itself with blankets of synth and soft, bionic heartbeats.

At first glimpse of the album art - details from Helen Maurene Cooper's "Birds Of Appetite" series - it becomes apparent that a certain surreal quality will mark the contents within The Blue Depths. A sense of longing and desire is buried within the dizzying layers. ODAWAS heighten the more subtle components of previous efforts, unashamedly giving into their love of Vangelis' romanticism, Eric Serra's dusky mysticism, and the sweeping, Southwestern strings of Jack Nitzsche. They demonstrate their mastery of nudging to the edge of the over the top with enchanting results.

The Blue Depths is an album for warmer places, a balmy haze habitat for headphone meanderings. This is a dream world where Neil Young and Jimmy Webb float in the reverb-saturated summer breeze. The solemn harmonies of  Moonlight/Twilight  drift between sheets of stirring bowed bass murmur as shimmering guitar notes ebb and flow underneath. Bursts of yearning harmonica arc over ethereal soundscapes in "The Case Of The Great Irish Elk."  The jubilant piano of  "Harmless Lover's Discourse"  gives way to the most startling pop moment of the album, a soaring bed of synth propelled by a driving bass line and vibrant rhythms.

Also catch them at Great American Music Hall 4/26!