ANGEL OLSEN

2022 ALT-COUNTRY/SINGER-SONGWRITER

Big Time is the sixth record from songwriter staple of the US of A, Angel Olsen. I have an up and down relationship with Olsen’s music, from the hideous lo-fi swamp of Burn Your Fire For No Witness to the substantially sharper in all respects, and thus enjoyable, My Woman, and most recently the lavish if ineffectual All Mirrors. Between the orchestral nature of that album and her recent dip into nocturnal covers of 80s tracks any direction other than the indie-rock of her early days seemed plausible yet country was not at the front of my brain. Maybe if I saw the cover first with its collared button-up and Appalachian views that are nearly as synonymous to the genre as its signature twang I could have pieced it together.

In isolation it’s a surprise but when you hit play it all starts to make sense; the 21st century malaise that runs through all her releases fits in perfectly alongside that classic heartland longing and the cries of a pedal steel guitar. The change feels so right, Olsen’s performances are beautiful and apart from a few cuts the songwriting is top notch; yet I’m not head over heels, in fact I’ve never walked away thinking it was anything past the quite good mark. The nagging issue that hits dead in my waning attention span whether on one listen it’s twenty minutes in or forty on another is how one-note it is, how perfectly ordinary, track after track of lush country balladry and sweet but simple poetry of love and loss. If you are somewhat versed in the genre then you’ve heard plenty of stuff just like this which of course is fine but becomes obviously less fine when the songwriting departs from its opening excellence. 

This starts with the goddamn immaculate All The Good Times and its small town parade of instrumental accents, an organ, all manner of horns, and some manner of metallic percussion. The lyrics are a pretty standard affair of reminiscing on a relationship gone south but nothing a good rhyme scheme and Olsen’s enthralling earnestness can’t shore up.

So long, farewell, this is the end
And I’ll always remember you just like a friend
And the way that you said, as heavy as lead
You’ve always known how to get straight to my head

Wouldn’t ya know it the title track continues this but we’ve traded somber for cute, and I mean cute in the best way possible. It’s hard not to picture Olsen in the kitchen of an old country house; love in her eyes as she holds a fresh cup of coffee in both hands while a cool breeze tickles her skin from the back screen door. The whole thing is overflowing with goodness that country stalwarts seek. As you might well imagine Dream Thing is dreamy, more so its quality of soft slow-motion rather than of haze. Its pleasure provokes a short bit of shoulder swaying accompanied by lightly closed eye-lids. It’s at the next track, Ghost On, that things begin to get stale, but to be clear I am still firmly seated in the territory of pleased. A morose line of piano and a second or perhaps third dose of vague poetry on the specters of love. It has a stark beauty, especially the instrumental outro. The first downer in a non-emotional sense is All The Flowers, solid i suppose but the lyrics are really generic and the placid strings lose me quickly. Not bad but it just glides around at the back of your consciousness demanding nothing and in turn receiving nothing. 

Right Now does bring change but not at first as the opening acoustic slow burn that feels like a cool woodsy dawn will seem familiar. However the later half that ramps up the intensity culminating in a flash of bad attitude from Olsen and her electric guitar that I absolutely eat up. 

I’m telling you right now, right now
I need you to look at me and listen
I ain’t the past coming back to haunt you

It’s at the song This Is How It Works that I’ve resorted to googling for synonyms to try to not make this review too obviously repetitious. Patient percussion, weeping pedal steel, and depressing prose combine to feel like a dark cloud has crested into the valley will never leave. It’s okay and that’s largely due to the six and a half minute runtime that feels unjustified. 

Then suddenly and inexplicably Big Time stops being a country record, not just for Go Home but for its remainder, opting instead for baroque-pop which is at least tonally consistent in its dreariness. The spotlight shines on big piano chords and an emphatic chorus that you’ll be more than acquainted with if you know anyone who has moved far from their comfortable circle to New York or LA.

I wanna go home
Go back to small things
I don’t belong here
Nobody knows me 

Strings and an extra breathy delivery generate a kind of melancholic hypnotism on Through The Fires. Highly dramatic, it feels like a movie scene where our main character is all alone on New Years as the camera pans across old photos and sentimental objects. The finale, Chasing The Sun, is a textbook example of a closer. The vocals are near a whisper before bursting as if she is ready for anyone to hear how much even the most wasteful moments are the greatest of her life when spent beside her love. You can feel it in her voice that she hasn’t been this happy in a long time, the release after finally finding the object of desire you’ve been after your whole life, pure delight. 

I find Big Time is best during what I will call light listens, when you can let Olsen’s terrific singing and songwriting wash over. The times I sat down and gave it my dedicated focus I found myself getting kinda bored at points, always hoping that Olsen might bust out a slick riff for a country rager on the next track to spice things up but alas it never comes. Still, it is very good, I’m all about the shift to country. I only wish that it was able to move past tears on the front porch and saccharine sweet nothings. 

7/10

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