Tom Odell tells it like it is

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24 | October 10, 2013 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

YOU couldn’t necessarily callTom Odell a bundle of laughs.

The 22-year-old writes andplays the kinds of songs that, if youaccidentally snag a yearning pianochord on the radio and are having aslightly fragile day, will tip you overthe edge into a blubbering mess. It’sdangerous, heart-breaking stuff. Andon the phone he’s no lighter or jollierthan his lyrics.

“Every word I wrote, I wrote withsincerity,” he tells me, confirmingthat most of his songs are torn fromsome of his darker moments.

Surely performing lines like “AndI wanna cry, I wanna learn to love/But all my tears have been used up,”(Another Love) and “She got a newboyfriend/A little too soon if you’reasking me/I heard that she loveshim/A little bit more than she’ll everlove me,” (Supposed To Be), live onstage, repeatedly night after nightmust be painful to relive?

“To be honest with you, it makesit easier to perform the songsbecause they’re very honest songs,”he explains. “Doing a gig is not onlyphysically quite

exhausting, it is emotionallyexhausting. You come off and you’vegone through so many differentemotions, but I try to perform thesongs and really get back to whenI wrote them, and really get backin that sort of mind-set and thatway I can perform them with someemotion. But each night is different.”

Born in Chichester, Odell ditchedsuburbia for the beer-soaked floorsof pubs and clubs in Brightonwhen he was 18, eking out a livingby hauling his keyboard round tovenues where either the puntersdidn’t turn up, or just threwtheir weight around. Then,in a flurry, his band left him,

he couldn’t getinto music schooland a stringof girlfriendsbailed too.It all soundslike a prettydemoralisingstart.

“It neverfelt toughactually,”he saysthoughtfully.“Looking backat it, it lookedtough, but at the timeit never did becauseit always felt exciting.And I think that wasimportant because ifI’d ever done it andit felt like a chore, itwouldn’t have beenright, you know?”

With his KurtCobain haircut,denim shirtspaired withblack jeans, gruff

bomber jackets and a jutting

bottom lip, he definitely looks rightfor the part of brooding,introspective indiekid, ivories in tow.

But, for a guywho rips out

the darkestrecesses of

his heart,sews

them intoromanticallytortured

lyrics andplays themto

thousands of people, there arecertain things he categorically will

not discuss.Firstly, a fledgling relationship

with Taylor Swift that sputteredearlier this year (they onlywent on one official date,but then she does dateeveryone), and secondly,that scathing NME review inwhich his debut album, LongWay Down, was given 0 out of

10. Then Tom’s dad rang up theoffice to complain. Sweet, huh?If a little embarrassing.

The album still spun into theNumber One slot regardless,

but I have been toldif I ask about either

of the above, thelikelihood is I’ll

be hung up on.Has the

sudden plungeinto famechanged him?“I don’t know,

you’d have toask one of my

friends.” I laugh.It’s awkward. He’s

not joking, and addsbluntly: “I don’t feel I

have. No.”Odell’s career took the

swerve towards acclaim– flirtatiously at least –

when a friend of Lily Allen’sspotted him at an open micnight and mentioned his setto the blunt-fringed Smilesinger.

“It was very exciting whenI met Lily,” Tom mumbles,still seemingly awed byhis luck. “I was just doinglittle club shows in Londonand she was very, verysupportive.”

Music

Tom Odell:

Editor: Paul Kirkley Writer: Ella WalkerEmail: whatson@cambridge-news.co.uk,ella.walker@cambridge-news.co.uk

It’s been a whirlwind year for piano-totingTom Odell. ELLA WALKER catches up withthe scruffy-haired heartbreaker aheadof a sold-out gig at Cambridge CornExchange.

“Maybe I’ll try and become president – orprime minister maybe? That’ll be nice”

physically quite into mand aof girlbailedIt alllike ademstar

“Ifeltactheth“LattoitiA

bomber ja

Cambridge News | cambridge-news.co.uk | October 10, 2013 | 25

LIST YOUR EVENTS FOR FREE AT cambridge-news.co.uk/whatson

Lily signed him straight to herlabel – In the Name Of, an imprintof Columbia Records – and it wasonly a matter of time before he wasnamed Critics’ Choice at the BritAwards. Following in the suitablyimpressive steps of Florence, Adeleand Emeli, it was before his albumeven came out: “It was kinda crazy,I went from being completelyunknown to being known all in thespace of, like, a month.”

He barely had a chance to putthe gong on the mantelpiece andhe’d gone from playing forgettablegigs in grungy pubs on Brightonseafront and in London back alleys,to Glastonbury’s glittering BBCIntroducing stage with screamingfans desperate to smush their facesin his flicky hair.

It must have been quite anadjustment? “I’m touring the worldnow which is different to what I wasdoing before,” he says after a lengthypause. “It’s definitely changed but,yeah, I think it’s just nice that morepeople have heard my music.”

He’s definitely mastered the art ofthe understatement, but admits itwas quite daunting at times. “Whenwe were at Glastonbury and wewalked out to that crowd, being thebiggest crowd we’d played to yet,that was a little bit terrifying. But Ithink you get used to it quite quicklyand you settle in.

“I don’t take it for granted and tobe honest with you it’s not like that

all over. We’re over in America andthe shows are much smaller out hereand it kinda keeps you level headed.”

Staying level headed is importantwhen you’re being compared tothe likes of Chris Martin (watch thevideo for Hold Me and then try andsay you can’t see it) and Jeff Buckley.Allen even said Tom reminded her ofa young Bowie.

“People make comparisons toeverybody, you just take it witha pinch of salt you know,” hesidesteps. “It’s very flattering, that’sfor sure, but I’ve always aspired to bemy own artist and that’s the thing Itry to strive towards.”

When he’s not grafting, on touror in the studio, he’s listening tothe new London Grammar record(“They actually supported us righton our first tour in March so it’s sonice to see them doing so well”) andreally wants to listen to girl band ofthe moment, Haim.

But the most lighthearted heappears – and the best laugh I getout of him – is when I ask wherehe sees himself in five years’ time.“In a mountain hut in Utah,” heanswers, for the first time withouthesitating, followed by a shy chuckle.“Hopefully I’m still making music.Maybe I’ll try and become presidentor something; prime ministermaybe? That’ll be nice.”

Then again, he’s quite good at thissinging malarkey. Perhaps he shouldjust stick to that.

� Tom Odell, Cambridge CornExchange, Sunday, October13 at 7.30pm. SOLD OUT.

“It was kindacrazy. I went frombeing completelyunknown tobeing known, allin the space of,like, a month.”