DENITIA ODIGIE

Artist Information

Biography

Denitia Odigie (pronounced Deh-NEE-sha Oh-DEE-Jee) is an American soul artist based in New York City. Fans of r&b, pop, soul, and blues are drawn to the gravity that Denitia's music creates.

By 2009, Denitia had released 4 independent EPs on her own, experimenting in psychedelic folk, country, lo-fi, grunge, and soul. It was that year that she signed a publishing deal with Weston Boys Entertainment, home of Jace Everett (True Blood theme song). She then released the folk-soul Brick by Brick EP on the WB imprint. Reviewers called the EP "tasteful pop music: the product of a modern ear and a world-wise iTunes library…” “…a delicious musical impression of a revived old soul."
2010 saw Denitia releasing her debut full-length album, Vitality, on the Weston Boys label. From psych-soul tunes like "Tightrope" to the horn-laden whisper of "Lover" to the dreamy, swimming "Sold", Vitality is her consummate album, highlighting the many colors and vibes that encompass the Denitia Odigie sound. A review in Deli Magazine summed it up: “From start to finish, this record is in a constant state of grooving; relaxed or raunchy; sweet or sultry. Few artists can actually accomplish creating a record that not only grooves, but relaxes, from start to finish… fresh and classic at the same time.”
Last year, Denitia has released an EP of sketches, Dream Suite. What began as a collection of demos, became a sweet, starry-eyed collection of love songs. The project is made up of minimal compositions crafted with only Farfisa organ, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and voice, creating a lush, yet minimalist playground for Denitia's simple, soulful melodies.
2012 kicks off with the release of Denitia's Songs for Sunsets, a live EP with a 6 piece band.

Denitia is currently working on her second full-length album and preparing for international touring in the fall/winter.

Instrumentation

Denitia Odigie (vocals, acoustic guitar)
Brick by Brick EP
Dan Cohen (electric guitar)
James Cook (bass)
Derek Mixon (drums/percussion)
Jenny Wood (bgvs)

LIVE:
Dan Cohen (electric guitar)
Ben Graham (bass)
Scott Shirock (drums)
Ezell (bgvs)
Jenny Wood (bgvs

Discography

Stream Denitia Odigie at www.denitia.bandcamp.com.


Songs for Sunsets (Independent Release 2012)

Dream Suite (Independent Release 2011)

Vitality (Weston Boys Entertainment 2010)
-Listen to Denitia Odigie Radio on Pandora.com

Brick by Brick (Weston Boys Records 2009)

CONTRAST (Independent release 2008)

The Fireworks Session (Independent release 2007)

Good Causes (Independent release 2006)

Denitia Odigie (Independent release 2005)

Links

• Facebook
• Last.fm
• Twitter
• MySpace
• YouTube

Audio

• Earthly Gates
  Listen  
• Greens
  Listen  
• Weekend
  Listen  
• Follow Where It Leads
  Listen  
• Shoes
  Listen  
• Sleep
  Listen  

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Okayplayer [+ Show ]
  

  "Relatively unknown and super-talented, strummer-songwriter Denitia Odigie just appeared out of nowh..."Relatively unknown and super-talented, strummer-songwriter Denitia Odigie just appeared out of nowhere on our musical radar, like a flock of swans in airplane formation. Recorded in somebody’s living room with only guitar, organ, mini-moog and voice, the Dream Suite EP is quiet but powerful–pretty sure no amount of tracks could make these original songs shine much better. Must have been a sunny living room."

• The Deli Nashville [+ Show ]
  

  "Basically everything that Denitia writes or records is “soulful” in some respect, but damn… “Vitali..."Basically everything that Denitia writes or records is “soulful” in some respect, but damn… “Vitality” has got soul. We’re talking Erykah Badu-meets-Chaka Khan, then throw in the most tasteful elevator music, with a little bit of Shelby Lynn—(if the girl had some class)—and that’s what Denitia has dished out. From start to finish, this record is in a constant state of grooving; relaxed or raunchy; sweet or sultry. It’s all there. At the same time, “Vitality” manages to be what is probably the most laid-back set of recordings I’ve heard all year. Few artists can actually accomplish creating a record that not only grooves, but relaxes, from start to finish...fresh and classic."

• Performer Magazine [+ Show ]
  

  "As soon as Odigie opened her mouth, the crowd went silent. She's a smiley, unassuming little lady w..."As soon as Odigie opened her mouth, the crowd went silent. She's a smiley, unassuming little lady who looks a lot like Lauryn Hill and laughs like a scheming five year old. But, when she's on stage, you can almost feel her squeezing your heart with her bare hands. Her voice is raw and haunting, and soars unpredictably to unimaginable heights. Between that and her slow electric guitar, Denitia's heart-wrenching love songs are of a dark, soulful ilk that would make Jeff Buckley fans weep. "

• SXSW [+ Show ]
  

  "The Next Big Musical Acts to Come out of Last Week's SXSW: Denitia Odigie is the beautifully comfor..."The Next Big Musical Acts to Come out of Last Week's SXSW: Denitia Odigie is the beautifully comfortable mesh of Corinne Bailey Rae and Nneka on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Her heartfelt vocals dance effortlessly on top of crisp complex Neo-soul arrangements. Denitia is signed to the same publishing company as Jace Everrett (performer of the Trueblood theme song), so we can all expect to see big things in Ms. Odigie's bright and soulful future. "

• The Daily Times Knoxville [+ Show ]
  

  When singer-songwriter Denitia Odigie first got her hands on a copy of the seminal album "Grace" by ...When singer-songwriter Denitia Odigie first got her hands on a copy of the seminal album "Grace" by the late Jeff Buckley, it changed her life.
  
  As an artist, she'd grown up in Houston listening to music and singing along to lyrics. After moving to Nashville to attend college, she continued her singing and playing, hitting up open-mic nights in Music City and taking a songwriting class at Vanderbilt.
  
  But it was "Grace" that inspired her, that opened doors to a world of singing, performing and songwriting that she didn't know existed. Ever since, she's been kicking those doors open, exploring what's on the other side for herself.
  
  "Just the whole album -- from the way it's sequenced and those first low, rumbling notes of 'Mojo Pin' -- I was like, 'I need to sing like this. I want to sing like this man,'" Odigie told The Daily Times this week. "I really started singing along to him and stretching my range out. I started singing from different parts of my body and really opening up, playing different chords on the guitar and becoming somebody who could play to different moods."
  
  With "Grace," Odigie became a singer-songwriter reborn. Playing along to post-grunge radio, as she'd done in her teens ... writing songs from the perspective of a teen ... all those things went out the window. From that moment, she started carving out her own path to the folk-soul siren she is today, a woman whose voice can range from a whisper to a roar within the span of a single song.
  
  To call her voice and music ethereal is an oversimplification -- there's something so graceful and angelic about a song like "Pioneer" that evokes images of a pretty girl in a sundress, pirouetting through a field of flowers, a snapshot from a movie so colorful and vibrant that it doesn't seem real. To go from that to "Personal Savior," a simmering slab of country-blues slide mixed with shimmering R&B that rockets in energy and passion into the stratosphere, is no small feat. But it's part and parcel of Odigie's drive and ambition.
  
  "I've gone through many musical stages -- the last project I put out is just an EP of four songs called 'Brick by Brick,' but sonically I'm the most proud of it," she said. "It's really rich and soundtrack-ish. The one before that had a lot of slide guitar and country influences, and I think one could listen to it and easily think that it came out of Nashville. I'm really excited about where things are going musically."
  
  Odigie recently signed with Nashville-based Weston Boys Entertainment, a small label for which she also works as a songwriter. As her music develops, so do her skills with a pen, and she sees a song as a blank canvas with which she can use words to evoke feelings as much as she does thoughts.
  
  "If I have a whole, free day, I'll just sit there and write a bunch of songs about what's going on in my life," she said. "I really appreciate symbolic writing and songwriting that uses symbolism to give you a concrete idea of what's going on. I like to be multi-conventional -- I want my words and the shape of the words to literally take on a mood, but I also want them to describe something intangible at the same time that I'm telling you what I see is going on."
  
  If it sounds like a complex process, it's OK -- Odigie is a complex girl. On the surface, her residence might get her pegged as a wannabe country star. Her race might earn her comparisons to Tracy Chapman. But the complexities of her music, as well as the power and the passion, are what blow away those preconceptions.
  
  "I realize that when people are thinking about music or any kind of art form that they want to put it into a category," she said. "I mean, before you bite into something, you want to know what's in it so you're not surprised. But I like blowing those stereotypes away. I'm really excited about how my project is broadening and how unpredictable it can be.
  
  "I'm addicted to getting lost in the moment, where I'm not even really in my body anymore. I'm just ecstatic and emotional and passionate, and I'm really drawn to that in other people, so that's the way I communicate. I like going from a whisper to a roar, and I want to get to something that's going to move people, because I'm moved when I'm singing the songs and I'm playing."
  
  

• AW Music [+ Show ]
  

  Denitia Odigie, pronounced Dah-NEE-Sha Oh-DEE-Jee. A quiet day requires soothing voices to calm the ...Denitia Odigie, pronounced Dah-NEE-Sha Oh-DEE-Jee. A quiet day requires soothing voices to calm the soul. Such is the case of Denitia Odigie, a strong soul with raw appeal to comfort your mind. I definitely like this new music and almost want to keep it as my secret. However, my selfish bones are away on vacation today.
  
  Denitia Odigie’s new work is the Brick By Brick EP, which is available for sale on iTunes and through her MySpace. It is a very short and delicious musical impression of a revived old soul. The sweetness in her voice is a reminder of Corinne Bailey Rae (her look too), with Feist’s folk raw intensity. She’s been nesting her greatness in Nashville since 2005, releasing independent albums. I’m actually quite surprised Starbucks hasn’t snatched her for their inhouse record label, she would be perfect for their collection.
  
  The Brick By Brick EP is a musical mix with a tinge of country, sprinkles of soul, scatters of acoustic and drizzles of caramel gospel.
  
  (Coko Galore for awmusic.ca)

• Nashville Scene [+ Show ]
  

  There’s little question that Denitia Odigie spent much of the ’90s poring over PJ Harvey and Portish...There’s little question that Denitia Odigie spent much of the ’90s poring over PJ Harvey and Portishead albums as well as plenty of other eerie, brooding alternative rock. On last year’s self-titled EP—which she recorded with artist/producer Quiet, KY—and a more recent four-song demo, she channels tinges of the grunge aesthetic through her avant-garde melodic sensibility, introspective songwriting and wiry three-piece band. Even with the percussive barrage of electric guitar on songs such as “5 Minutes,” Odigie’s music retains an ethereal frailty, because the low, warm tones of a bass guitar are conspicuously absent. During quieter moments, the Nashville singer-songwriter’s clear soprano and acoustic guitar playing veer into tattered indie art-folk territory, like Cat Power before her Memphis excursion on The Greatest.. ( www.myspace.com/denitiaodigie ) —JEWLY HIGHT

Setlist

Basic Requirements

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