The Fat Angel Sings

Angel Olsen’s magnificent album ‘My Woman’ on clear vinyl in September. The 29-year-old singer-songwriter came up as a touring member of Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s backing band in 2010, playing guitar and duetting with the eccentric folk and country hero (a.k.a. Will Oldham). Despite her increasingly prominent solo career, she’s often labeled as one of his disciples, posited as a protégé even as she has issued three acclaimed albums where her muse is wholly her own. That miscategorization has led to others: When Olsen began releasing her own stripped-back, mournful folk works — 2011’s Strange Cacti EP and 2012’s Half Way Home .

When she added a full-blown band for 2014’s breakthrough Burn Your Fire For No Witness — an ambitious album that was as much fuzzy, blown-out rock music as folk — the gloomy reputation followed her. Olsen, whose voice tends to ring out in a near-tears tremble, has been reluctantly framed as the weepy poster girl of contemporary folk rock, forever salting her wounds for the sake of her art.

My Woman, which arrives on September 2nd, is an unexpected departure for Olsen, her most diverse record yet. It’s not quite synth pop, at least not all of it, but from its first song, “Intern,” she might have had you fooled. Olsen directed and stars in the video for “Intern,” where she plays a tortured, “super famous” pop-star type in a silver wig and Britney-esque headset mic, singing along to moody chords fit for a Julee Cruise ballad. “I don’t care what the papers say,” she croons, turning to the camera as she ignores a sheepish, young interviewer. “It’s just another intern with a résumé.” The song was an anomaly in Olsen’s two-year-long recording process for My Woman, a onetime studio experiment that just ended up fitting. “[I thought], How funny would it be if it was so misleading?” Olsen says. “But what I realized is if I used different instruments like synth and piano, and went away from my guitar for a minute, I could sing differently. It opened up all of these opportunities to use my voice more, to be less preoccupied with trying to be super clever with my lyrics.”

Angel Olsen – “Sister” from ‘MY WOMAN’ out September 2nd, 2016 on Jagjaguwar Records.

It appears we will be getting a new Angel Olsen album soon. The singer-songwriter debuted a video for a new track today that, according to Shazam, is titled “Intern” from an album called My Woman. The clip was directed by Olsen herself with collaborative input from Ashley Connor and Jethro Waters. Olsen’s last album, the remarkable Burn Your Fire For No Witness, was one of our favorites of 2014. Check out “Intern” below.

Angel Olsen last album was 2014’s excellent Burn Your Fire For No Witness (one of our favorites of that year), and it looks like we may get a followup soon.  she just put out a new song/video called “Intern” and Shazam says the song is on a release called No Woman. The song is closer to classic ’60s pop than the folk/rock vibes of Burn Your Fire, with her voice backed by nothing more than some atmospheric keyboards.
The video was written and directed by Angel Olsen with collaborative input from Ashley Connor and Jethro Waters.

Having announced her third studio album My Woman – out on September 2nd via Jagjaguwar Records – Angel Olsen has shared the video for excellent new single Shut Up Kiss Me.

Directed by Olsen herself, the video encapsulates everything that’s captivating about her and her music – fiery, yet beguilingly playful, whilst the song itself has a nervy, grungy quality to it with an edge of desperation.