From Here to ODESZA
To say that their time at Western proved creatively fruitful for Harrison Mills (’12, Design) and Clayton Knight (’12, Physics) is, well, a bit of an understatement.
Mills and Knight are the electronic dance music duo ODESZA, a partnership forged during their senior year. The year they graduated, the Washington state natives – Mills hails from the Bellevue/Redmond area and Knight is from Bainbridge Island – watched two songs from their debut album, “Summer’s Gone” – “How Did I Get Here” and “iPlayYouListen” – go viral via SoundCloud.
Their 2014 follow-up, “In Return,” opened at No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance/Electronic album chart. Their current tour sold out in advance and they are now a firm music festival fixture, popping up everywhere from Coachella to Lollapalooza.
“It’s all still awfully surreal,” says Knight. But while they may be frenetically and perpetually on the road – their spring and summer tour dates include gigs in Europe as well as the States – their experience remains comfortably infused with familiar elements of their alma mater.