Tom Odell performs LIVE and tells Chris Evans about his brand new album

Virgin Radio

26 Jan 2024, 15:36

Tom Odell played a superb live set for Virgin Radio, including tracks from his brand new album, Black Friday.

The singer-songwriter joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch to talk about his sixth studio album, which is out today (26th January), and to play some tunes, including this amazing cover. Speaking about his new album, Tom told Chris: “It was a real labour of love. It's very gentle, I think, and it probably takes a few listens, but I'm really proud of it. It's got lots of strings, lots of pianos, lots of guitars. 

“We recorded 24 incredible string musicians in a studio called Angel Studios in London, and they were phenomenal. It's kind of like this living entity on the album, this orchestra. They kind of come in and come out, and they push and pull and there's moments of levity, and then there's moments of tension.”

During his live session for Virgin Radio, Tom played the title-track from the brand new album. “It gets me, every time,” he said. 

Tom and his band are heading out on a UK and European tour in March and April. “We had our first rehearsal yesterday,” he said.

“We don't actually really ever rehearse, but we are this time. I'm trying to create a new show.”

He added: “The band is just getting better and better and better.”

Speaking about his relationship with his older songs, he told Chris: “I love them just as much as the new ones really,” before thinking for a second and adding: “There's quite a few I don't like!”

He continued: “When I look back to my past, there's lots of things I cringe at, lots of songs I'm not proud of, but I would say that I always took great care of the words, and I took great care of the writing. And sometimes the production, I'm not that happy with. And sometimes, the singing I'm not that happy with, but I always took care of the writing."

In November 2023, Tom married artist Georgie Somerville. He told Chris: “Georgie is just phenomenal. I was going for a bit of a weird, creative period, and actually with my head as well, when I met her. I lost the thing where I realised what was good and what was bad. It's a horrible thing, as an artist, to get to a point where you don't know what you're doing. And you lose that compass that is so vital, I think. 

“I played her a bunch of songs quite early on in our relationship. And there was a bunch of songs I wrote that were trying to please other people. There was one in there that I played right at the end that I thought was too indulgent and was my thing, but I just presumed she would hate it. And she listened, didn't say much about all of them, and the last one she was like, ‘That's the song. Do more of that. Do more of you’. That sums up perfectly, Georgie. She's just incredible. She inspires me.”

Speaking more about how his new album is about “letting go of a period of time, but also about my relationship with myself,” he said: “You look out at the world around you, and you look out with love and adoration and compassion. And then I had a tendency to look inward with... not that. I would look inward with criticism and judgement. And I think a lot of it is a journey of trying to get better at that. Trying to be equal with the way you look out and the way you look in.”

Tom also played a stunning cover of Dancing in the Dark, originally by Bruce Springsteen. Watch it here.

Black Friday is out today. For tickets to the Black Friday tour and for more information, visit tomodell.com.

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.