BRONSON

BRONSON is the brand-new project of Grammy-nominated, world class act, ODESZA and breakthrough Australian electronic powerhouse, Golden Features. Harrison Mills, Clayton Knight and Tom Stell first met at a music festival in Perth, Australia in 2014, and formed an instant connection.

Music was the environment in which they bonded, but friendship was the foundation - built on camaraderie, mutual admiration and implicit trust. “We knew we could be honest with each other [and] we didn't take it too seriously together. That's a good place to start creating,” says Harrison. In truth, Harrison and Clayton had become drawn to the darker edges of dance music; whereas Tom was intrigued by the lush soundscapes his counterparts were known for – not the influences that were typically elemental in ODESZA and Golden Features’ respective sounds or fanbases. 

And so, a whole new recording process began between the three across time zones and oceans. They passed demos over Dropbox and they met up on FaceTime calls. For three years, whenever one of them had a spark of something interesting, they'd keep the outlet alive; a safe haven for the ideas that couldn't find a home in their everyday artistry.

In 2018 after yet another ODESZA Australian tour, Harrison and Clayton stayed behind after their dates were completed. They wanted to see what would happen if the three of them holed up in a room together. They settled on isolated Berry, Australia. As Tom recalls, “I found a space for us in a rural area three hours south of Sydney – it was a farmhouse at the bottom of a valley with no neighbours in any direction for kilometres. We literally had kangaroos and echidnas in the backyard every other day.” In that, they didn't put any limitations on the recording experience. Whatever happened, happened.

That trip became a turning point. They found themselves making music in a timeless space, often creating for 14-hour stretches at a time. During a break they decided to watch the Tom Hardy movie Bronson which later became the inspiration for the project name. 

The trio knew they had more than just one song and that the result of their work together was greater than simply the sum of ODESZA and Golden Features. BRONSON wasn't about melding those facets, it was its own entity: something distinctly different from anything they'd ever created. They embraced a sense of newfound limitlessness. For the first time, they weren’t subject to the confines of making the next ODESZA or Golden Features record and the weight of meeting those expectations. In this new environment, they were thriving.

They welcomed the chance to unveil a project that didn't pander to their already enormous respective global reaches. ODESZA and Golden Features have combined streaming numbers in the billions and hold multiple gold and platinum singles/albums. They've remixed and collaborated with an array of impressive artists including the likes of Sia, Leon Bridges, Regina Spektor, Katy Perry and Charli XCX. They're hugely respected in the live circuit, cumulatively reaching millions of fans on headline tours, with ODESZA being a veteran main stage act of major festivals such as Coachella, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Outside Lands and Lollapalooza.

In April 2019, they spent another week together in Joshua Tree, CA and made the debut self-titled BRONSON album, finishing it at the top of 2020. The LP is inspired by heavily sound-designed broodier music. You hear it from the jump with opening track “FOUNDATION”, which builds like the introduction to a dystopian disaster movie. The trio were chasing a beautiful record that had depth but didn't necessarily feel melancholy.

It’s an album that reflects their respective needs to challenge personal struggles, both internal and external. Moreover, the trio recognized that their own battles were merely microcosms of the surrounding world. The hope was to craft a body of work that was reflective of that duality of lightness and darkness inherent to the human condition. The result is a project with an extraordinary profundity and universal relatability. One can connect to it on deeply personal level and find relief, no matter what they may be confronting in their own life.

Making this music together was a form of unspoken therapy, and in that, they masterfully balance edgier basslines and beats (somber moments of loneliness and heightened stress) with gorgeous melodies (sighs of reprieve). Take for instance “TENSE”, an aptly named track that has a palpable intensity which grabs hold of you, segueing seamlessly into “CALL OUT”, a song that washes over the listener with a soothing, palliative effect, for which Harrison and Tom provide the vocals.

First single “HEART ATTACK” proved a breakthrough in the creative process. “We fell in love with the loop,” recalls Harrison. It features vocalist lau.ra from Ultraista, whose dreamy offerings are sweetly addictive and alluring. Similarly, Gallant delivers a breath-y, raw vocal in “KNOW ME”, that paired with its emotive and pointed production, comes across as a cathartic calling. The album’s final track, “DAWN” features the brilliant, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and is seven minutes and 24 seconds of uplifting electro blended with moments of stripped back choral-esque vocals and slowly crescendoing beats to deliver a truly epic track. 

Listening back to the album now gives all three of them a very different sense of pride from anything they've put their names to before. “That was the goal of the project – to step outside the comfort zone,” says Clayton. “It does that well. It feels good.” Harrison acknowledges that both ODESZA and Golden Features experience pressure to fit an already established mold. “There's a preconceived idea of what it's supposed to sound like. We got to escape that with this record. We got to make exactly what we wanted because it's something new. It felt freeing.” 

HOMETOWN: Seattle, Washington / Sydney, Australia

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