This is a personal artist spotlight on Angel Olsen by Anastassia/Alternate Reality.
In my mind, Angel Olsen is a beautiful goddess angel with a killer voice that covers all the different ranges of beautiful. Unfortunately my musical taste didn’t come around to Angel Olsen until her album, Half Way Home, had been out for about a year. I knew of her and listened to that album very briefly however I couldn’t get past the strangeness of her voice. At times, Olsen hits notes that are a deep tenor while immediately bringing her voice back to the sweetness of a Joan Baez. Strangely enough Olsen’s sound was not at all influenced by early folk music, yet Angel Olsen would fit perfectly in between Loretta Lynn, Tony Caro and John and Vashti Bunyan.
Olsen is a unique singer-songwriter and Half Way Home captures a magical moment, a moment of being alone and completely vulnerable to all the emotions that may take you over. After initially listening to Angel Olsen, I didn’t think too much of it however one random night while I was in my apartment alone, I decided to give her another chance. My music taste is a little brat sometimes, disregarding an artist after a brief encounter without giving them a significant chance. Sometimes, though, it comes around and opens up to artists like Angel Olsen, embracing her sincere voice and the bizarrely beautiful range of notes within her vocals. Her show at Hopscotch is highly recommended and you will probably see me there weeping
Favorite Track: “Acrobat” on Half Way Home.
Playing: Fletcher Opera House, Friday September 5th 9:30-11 pm