​The Soundtrack of Shred: A Brief History of ODESZA & TGR

What’s the first band that comes to mind when you think about the TGR’S films? A few might come to mind, but if you really sit down and crunch the numbers, the answer might surprise you. The electronic duo, ODESZA, and Teton Gravity Research have a long standing relationship. One might say it all began after a night at the Mangy Moose in 2014, but Jackson local and ODESZA manager Adam Foley said that it’s been a thing of fate for the two powerhouses to collaborate since the conception of ODESZA itself.

“There’s enough energy in ODESZA’s music that ties into the energy of physical movement,” Foley said when asked about how one of the most powerful electronic bands came to be on almost every single one of TGR’s film’s soundtracks every year since 2013.

Even though Foley’s company manages other top tier artists like Dave Matthews, Phish, Luke Bryan and Alabama Shakes, he said the ODESZA team asks every year about getting their songs in sports films. “The band is always asking if any small film companies are interested in attaching their music to ski segments. They remember how important having music in those types of films was to their growth, and they want to link their music to the outdoors. A lot of people in our world want that too.”

When ODESZA’s first album was released in 2012, it didn’t take long for the band to blow up. Foley started sending ODESZA’s music to TGR, and in 2014, their song “Memories that you Call” was featured in a TGR’s film Almost Ablaze, being the first of many songs to be in a TGR film. After ODESZA’s album In Return was released in September 2014, they flew out to play at the premiere of Almost Ablaze in Jackson Hole, finishing the celebratory evening with a show at the Mangy Moose. That next morning, they flew out to San Francisco to start the first leg of their album’s tour, which ended up being completely sold out within the first week of tickets being available.

To the ears of an avid listener, or a consumer of action sports films, it may be clear why ODESZA’s music relates to TGR’s energy. When talking about the flowy oddity that electronic music actually working really well in ski segments, Foley recalled a moment before ODESZA’s 2017 album A Moment Apart was released. “I was listening to it a lot before it officially was released that winter, skiing in the Village, and there were two or three songs that I was listening to where I was like, ‘these just have to be in a ski film.’ I could see the scene, and I think it’s because the music provides this energy, and there’s enough positivity and uplift in it, it correlates to how we all feel when we're outdoors.”

The members of ODESZA’s creative team draw a lot of creative inspiration from the outdoors. One member of the team in particular, Foley shares, brings the emotion and vision of the outdoors and skiing to the shows, being from Alaska and a part-time pro skier. As one of their Live Creative Directors, Luke Tanaka makes and oversees all the stunning visual content you experience in the live ODESZA shows. “I remember when Harrison called me up and said, ‘Hey, we're gonna have visuals on this tour and our friend Luke's gonna do it.” And I was like, ‘Has he ever done this before?’ and they're like, ‘No.’ As a manager, you're like, ‘Oh my God, this could be a trainwreck.’ It ended up being totally the opposite, it was so awesome. It worked and it was genius. I think it's a testament to them being connected personally and creatively, and that's why it all jives.”

ODESZA just released their new album The Last Goodbye on July 22nd. “We sold 350,000 tickets for that tour in 36 hours after we put it up for sale. It was pretty crazy, our last shows were in July of 2019... we didn’t know if the world moved on or if they still cared about new music coming from us, and we were pleasantly surprised to say the least. We’re gearing up to take this thing across the country. We’re the first electronic artist to ever do an amphitheater tour, which are bigger than arenas, contrary to popular belief. There are still tickets available for most of the shows, even though they’re 99 percent sold out.”

With ODESZA now just embarking on their tour with their latest album The Last Goodbye, we asked Foley what the performances that ODESZA had planned for the tour are like. He smiled, took a big inhale, searching for the right words to explain the breadth of it. “It’s pretty fucking epic,” he said with a knowing laugh. “The visuals, lights, music, they created a whole new show that smokes the other shows. Start to finish, it’s 90 minutes of badass music and art, there’s always stuff happening, and they’re playing their old and new music.”

“There’s stuff happening the whole time, and I think people are going to want to see it more than once. That’s the difference between these guys and most artists. When some artists finish an album, they stop. With these guys, they finished making the album earlier this year, and then pivoted to make the show, which is like making a whole new album because it’s different versions of the songs for the show. They’re all new edits, structures, tempos, remixes… in a sense they’re making another album that’s 90 minutes long.”

From a creative standpoint, the similarities between creating a music album and visual/experiential show are extremely similar to what it takes to make a ski film. “You’ve got the same whiteboard aesthetic - storytellers that are re-crafting that experience is the same as making a film, creating experiences for fans, music videos, etc.” Foley said. “I've worked with a lot of filmmakers on the music supervision side, and I always remember filmmakers having a big whiteboard with different colored Post-It notes all over it,” as he said this, and I laughed in agreement as I gazed at TGR’s own whiteboard here at HQ - scribbled with athlete names, locations, segment ideas and formats along with encouraging creative notes. “It’s similar because they’re storytellers too, and they craft their music to fit whatever the creative is. They’re really good at creating experiences for their fans - they’re doing different things that fit the songs themselves. There’s new edits, structures and tempos - in another sense, you’re making a whole other album that focuses on visuals and lighting.”

Indeed, ODESZA and their larger team are performing to a caliber that is similar to that of a TGR athlete. “There’s a lot of nerves going into it because you don’t know if it will work from a functional standpoint or a creative standpoint, there’s a lot of moving parts,” Foley said. “There’s a lot of timing from choreography to costume changes, it’s definitely a component. It’s 90 minutes of cardio. Performers are endurance athletes at that point. They have to work through injuries and everything.”

We’re stoked to have ODESZA’s single “Behind the Sun” featured in our latest ski film, Magic Hour, which premieres in Jackson Hole on September 17, 2022. If you’re coming, don’t worry, I already asked Adam what the odds were that ODESZA would make a surprise appearance, and the answer sadly is zero. However, if you’re in Salt Lake on September 18th for the Magic Hour premiere at Red Butte Garden, stick around for another two days to catch them play at the USANA Amphitheater on the 20th. “Come on by for a double whammy,” Foley said with a slight smile. “You don’t have to be an electronic music fan to enjoy the show. It’s a spectacle - a unique experience. We’re excited to get it out there for people to see, and it’s going to blow people away. The reception we’ve gotten is already beyond what we could’ve asked for.”

You can now listen to all the ODESZA songs that have been in TGR films in our new Spotify playlist here.