Odeal’s earlier work was frenetic, youthful fun, blending infectious afrobeats with sultry croons and alté’s relentless experimental edge. But he’s matured over the years, dipping into the seductive world of R&B. At first, it was a jarring detour for the south London crooner, but since last year’s ‘Lustropolis’ EP, the NME 100 alum has perfected his niche in that lane: plush, shimmering slow-burners built for late nights and fine wine. But on his latest offering ‘The Fall That Saved Us’ – also his third EP of the year – there are moments where he drops the silkiness for something rawer and thrillingly stranger.
‘Pretty Girls’ is the focus track – and it’s a groovy one. Picking up on the sultriness of forebears like D’Angelo and Joe, the smouldering sounds ooze through: jazzy drums and freeform guitar strums undercurrent the thick stack of fluttery, featherlight vocals. It’s definitely worth the wait for fans who’ve loved the song since he teased it earlier in the year – but the song is middling compared to its counterparts, an easy-listening standout rather than an all-out triumph.
‘Molotov’ is an early highlight. The track showcases his signature witty, cheeky songwriting full of vivid metaphors and hypotheticals. Here, he paints love like an espionage thriller – a bond that could explode at any moment – when he sings: “Are you right for me, or trifling? / If they made you wear a wire, would you hide it from me? / Would you tell them, ‘Calm down,’ and bite the bullet?” over shimmering harp and punchy bass.
Meanwhile, songs like ‘Addicted’ and ‘Blur’ inject the upbeat flair needed. Across both, there’s an abundance of memorable one-liners (on the former, the silky crooner flexes his love for sarcastic rhetoricals: “Don’t you know that I’m stingy with my love?”) and percussive, earworm-y flows to keep the groove going. But the bluesy tones of ‘Blur’ make it the more ambitious track of the pair. The song unspools like a neon-lit confession booth, dragging heartbreak through a smoky haze of riffs and syncopated drums; it’s the closest this EP gets to the experimental bite of his early alté flirtations.
Odeal is great at delivering milky, velvety ballads, and has proven time and time again that he can – but the collection on ‘The Fall That Saved Us’ can feel stagnant. The opener ‘Reason’ is painstakingly slow, sinking into syrupy mulch rather than swelling with emotion. On ‘Cold World’, you can’t help but feel the south London singer has built a minimalistic, guitar-led vignette that never quite grows beyond its early melancholy, even as he sings about the angsty limbo of love. Even Afropop icon WizKid’s feature on ‘In The Sun’ can’t fully lift the mood, reminding us that the EP’s strengths still lie in Odeal’s own moments of invention.
‘The Fall That Saved Us’ proves that Odeal is an adept architect of mood and intimacy, even if the EP lingers a little too long in his sultry comfort zone from time to time. In its strongest moments, the project thrives when leaning into Odeal’s playful vulnerability and sharp lyricism. But this time, these moments of brilliance are sandwiched between mellow theatrics and meandering ballads, showing that restraint is not his strong suit. If he leans further into that raw, off-kilter spark, his next era could be his most exciting yet – but here, he just didn’t take that risk.
Details
- Record label: OVMBR / LVRN Records
- Release date: November 21, 2025