You haven’t heard such opulently arranged, intimately shimmering songs since kd lang or – more recently – Weyes Blood. Strings, organ, pedal steel guitar and reverberation on Angel Olsen’s vocals evoke the atmosphere of a Tammy Wynette or Dusty Springfield record. Olsen is 35 and one of the great songwriters. She sings with Bonnie “Prince” Billy in the ensemble Chivalrous Amoekons, which specializes in Mekon songs. She has an admirer in writer Stewart O’Nan, who dedicated his latest novel to her, prefixing it with a motto from an Olsen song.
“Big Time” is an album of poetic self-assurance
“Big Time” was created after the death of Olsen’s parents, who died within months of each other last year. She just confessed to them that she wanted to live queer from now on. “Some experiences make you feel like you’re five years old,” she now writes. “Finally, I was free to be me.” Angel Olsen wrote the record in a short time and recorded it at the Los Angeles studio of fellow nostalgic Jonathan Wilson. Wilson was also a co-producer, so it’s not surprising that some tracks – “All The Flowers”, “Right Now” – are laid on too thick and coated with sound pomp.
At times the songs soar to sonic highs, where something like synthetic horns create a drama that Olsen’s intimate vocals can produce far better. You know the bombast from Jonathan Wilson’s own eclectic records. Olsen had – most recently on an EP – worked with electronic instruments. But honestly, that’s no use. Her voice comes out better in classically arranged songs: “This Is How It Works”, “Through The Fires” with (artificial) Van Dyke Parks violins and the enchantingly ethereal piano ballad “Chasing The Sun”.
“Big Time” is an album of poetic self-assurance. Olsen alternates between “Ghost On” and “Go Home” in a way that one has to call “elegiac”. You can hear her songs as literature and as autobiographies, and Stewart O’Nan isn’t the only one doing both. “Write a postcard to you/ When you’re in the other room/ I’m just writing to say that I can’t find my clothes/ If you’re looking for something to do.”
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Angel Olsen :: All Mirrors
Intense ambitions and overwhelming anthems
Angel Olsen :: My Woman
Dusty Springfield :: Goin’ Back (4 CD + 3 DVD Box)
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The Australian songwriter presents the songs from her new album “Big Time” in three German cities.
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