A one-time backing vocalist for the eclectic indie/alt-country singer (and sometimes actor) Bonnie “Prince” Billy (Will Oldham), Angel Olsen has, to a degree, followed the template of her former employer. Both are natives of middle America — Oldham of Kentucky, Olsen of St. Louis, Missouri — and both have pursued a mixture of folk/alt-country and indie-garage rock. A teaser for Olsen’s latest album, out this Friday, says its “not not country,” and with her crooning and the hints of pedal steel on several tracks, I can’t disagree.
While the past few years have been hard on everyone, they have been especially tumultuous for the 34-year old singer-songwriter. In the span of a few weeks, she lost both her parents, just as she was in the process of coming out as queer and introducing her partner to her family. The combination of loss, of love, and of coming to terms with identity and acceptance all inform the record, which continues Olsen’s strong run as one of the finest musicians on the contemporary scene.
Tensions and contradictions drive the album. The first song, “All The Good Times,” begins with the line, ““I can’t say that I’m sorry / when I don’t feel so wrong anymore.” That track delves into the boogie of J. J. Cale, and the album as a while marks a turn away from the more electronic sound of her latest EP Aisles and her most recent LP, All Mirrors. Working with producer Jonathan Wilson, she’s crafted an updated country-folk sound that brings out hints of Loretta Lynn and Kitty Wells, while being entirely contemporary and avoiding the traps of nostalgia.
More than anything, Olsen sounds determined to be herself and live the life that best suits her on this album. As Drew Erickson’s piano accompanies her on “Ghost On,” she sings, “I can’t fit into the past that you’re used to, I refuse to.” But this determination is held in tension with facing and accepting grief. In “This It How It Works,” she pleads, “Tell me a story that will make me forget.” Olsen’s pain is at its most palpable on the track “Go Home,” when she sings, ““I want to go home, go back to small things. I don’t belong here. Nobody knows me.” Here, we see the different thematic strands of the album, the struggles with identity, grief and loss, all coming together to make for a potent, even heartbreaking combination.
This is an album that will make you hurt, but it will also make you feel hope, and it will make you feel optimistic about the possibilities of love, growth and renewal. Olsen understand that people come to music for that, and she ends the album on an upward, romantic, with “Chasing the Note,” where she address her partner: “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 lookin for something to do.” It’s a straightforward sketch of the sort of words that might be exchanged between two people in love. It’s not overly wrought, and it doesn’t feel like false poetry. The trick of writing is that is has to be cleaner and neater than regular speech, with all its sidetracks and infelicities, but it has to feel natural, too. Olsen’s writing achieves this relaxed naturalism, and the musicianship and singing on ‘Big Time’ are first-rate too, making this an exceptional and highly enjoyable album.
Track list: 1. All the Good Ones 2. Big Time 3. Dream Thing 4. Ghost On 5. All the Flowers 6. Right Now 7. This is How it Works 8. Go Home 9. Through the Fire 10. Chasing the Sun Record Label: Jagjaguwar Records Release Date: Friday June 3rd Buy ‘Big Time’ Now
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