Angel Olsen first offering since signing to Jagjaguwar completely caught me off-guard. Much like her label-mate Sharon Van Etten, Olsen started out as an intimate folk singer, using sparsely arranged acoustics as a backing for her beautiful siren-like vocals, but “Forgiven/Forgotten” is anything but serene. Instead what she offers is a relentless adrenaline rush of punkish guitars and orderly chaos. Over the course of the tracks two short minutes, Olsen shows the intensity and range of her voice while rushing headlong towards its inevitable conclusion; “I don’t know anything! But I love you”.
While I highly regard last year’s breathtakingly gorgeous Half Way Home, I can only say that I more than welcome this new change of pace. Olsen’s new album is titled Burn Your Fire For No Witness and is due out February 18.
I FOUND MUSIC 