If you ever did want to imagine your mother as a 1980s indie-folk artist whom you only see on old VHS tapes, Odie Leigh’s “How Did It Seem To You?” from the Treehouse Tape sessions is exactly what you dreamed of. The 2023 Treehouse Tape session has the same songs as the 2022 album of the same name, but with a sound that you won’t get from hit artists who are afraid of the experimentation and genre-creativity that distinguishes Odie Leigh.
Since the album was recorded directly to tape, the sound quality is reminiscent of listening from inside a tin can, or from a neighboring room in a cabin in the summer. Forest sounds accompany the songs (listen to the intro of “Crop Circles” for crickets). In an interview with the Daily Yonder, Leigh reveals that she makes a playlist of recommended songs to listen to alongside each of her new releases. One such playlist is titled “ethereal americana,” which perfectly describes her own style.
Leigh only started her music career seriously in 2020 and came to her current popularity through TikTok. The album is a 16-minute confession about the end of a relationship, conflicting feelings of moving on and growth. Leigh’s distinctive voice and self-taught guitar picking skills make the album feel both current and like it belongs in a different decade. Her music is influenced by classic folk, blues and country, generating what she describes as “bedroom folk” — especially relevant given that she began her musical career recording in her room.
The self-described “folk misfit” recorded each of the five songs in one take from a treehouse in rural Tennessee. Leigh sings about quitting cigarettes, wising up with age, falling into old habits, giving herself to a partner and letting go. Her YouTube channel has the accompanying videos of her recordings, all of which look like camcorder tapes from the 90s. The camera shakily comes towards her face, reminding the listener that they are part of a small listening community that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The fourth song on the album, “Crop Circles,” is intimately relatable to her millennial audience, focused on Tinder dates and pacing in circles around her carpet. “Crop Circles” was released in February of 2022, during a time when many of us were confined to our rooms in yet another peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, maybe also walking circles in our rooms. If you want to escape from a New England February for sixteen minutes and sit in a sunny treehouse, tell me how the album seems to you.
