On Spotify, where I found this yesterday, Angel Olsen is listed as a Related Artist to Courtney Barnett. Related I suppose in that they're both women who play guitars and write and sing their own songs. But Angel Olsen is an altogether more unsettling proposition. If she's an angel she's probably an avenging one. Her songs, (these are both taken from last year's splendid album Burn Your Fire For No Witness), are strangely brittle, other-worldly objects. She reminds me a little bit of Sylvia Plath for some reason and that's meant as a very high compliment. In Forgiven/ Forgotten below she sings 'I don't know anything...but I love you. Yes I do...' as if the pain of the end of a relationship will physically tear her apart. Most of us will know what this feels like. Highly recommended
I seem to recall that she was in Bonnie Prince Billy's band for a while too, which kind of makes a certain amount of sense.
ReplyDeleteWonderful record! Still don't know Bonny Prince Billy at all.
ReplyDeleteNot sure where to advise you to start with BPB. He's so prolific. Perhaps "Greatest Palace Music," where he covers his own, earlier material, using a very tight band. I like that one a lot. And then you can branch out into all the obscure pathways that he takes from there.
DeleteWill follow that up!
ReplyDelete