Wrong Crowd Album Review

Release date: 10^th June 2016

Published by RCA Records

Wrong Crowd, the latest album from British artist Tom Odell, offers a varied set of tracks mixed with a more concentrated and developed fictional tale at its centre.

With his debut in 2013, Tom Odell found a substantial audience with “Another Love” (Which went Platinum in three separate certifications) and “I know” among others, his unique voice making its mark in a scene filled with all kinds of young artists. Following a Critic’s Choice Brit Award in 2013 and a widely publicised rendition of Real Love by the Beatles a year later, Wrong Crowd sees the singer branching out and experimenting with both genres and a larger scale.

In Wrong Crowd, Odell has gone for a focus driven by narrative with many of the songs; they all revolve around a man dealing with his past alongside the cycle of relationships, interactions, attachment, and rejection. This results in a much wider array of emotions and tones. Where Long Way Down was mostly comprised of sombre, emotive folk tracks, here we’re given a reflective, inward-looking style which morphs into regretful, contemplative and back again. Tom Odell has been known to inject his own experiences into his work and he continues to do so in Wrong Crowd, making for another relatable set of songs. “Wrong Crowd”, “Concrete”, “Silhouette” and “Here I am” all succeed at being more impactful while also getting across the themes of the album’s internal story.

While several of Wrong Crowd’s songs stand out for their louder vocals and band integration, Tom’s popular use of the piano is still a constant presence as well; “Constellations”, “Still getting used to being on my own”, “Jealousy”, and “Somehow” are incredibly relaxing, sticking to the basics established in Odell’s debut three years ago. The final third of the album is a less favourable component; some of the ventures into pop have a bit too much going on with their components, distracting from Tom’s strong vocals; “Magnetised” and “Daddy” slightly weaken the album overall, but they are the only songs where his greatest asset is diminished.

Apart from a few moments where the implementation of more instruments gets in the way of his voice, Wrong Crowd is a very successful second course from Tom Odell. Variety and the way it weaves its own little plotline are its greatest strengths.

Rating: B