Angel Olsen - Half Way Home
Release Date: Sept 4th, 2012
Label: Bathetic Records
A great song can make the listener feel that the musician is
singing just to them. Talented songwriters understand this well, and will often fill their music with relatable themes that can speak to the unique experiences of whoever may be hearing it. This
ability of music to connect the mind of the artist with the mind of the listener is a beautiful thing. It's often what gives music its power. On Angel Olsen’s debut LP, Half Way
Home, she adds another dimension to this connection between artist and
consumer. Olsen never seems to be
singing directly to the listener; instead, the listener is invited to observe a
musical dialogue between Olsen’s inner thoughts. Allowing the listener to enter the deepest shadows of the
mind, Olsen has created one of the darkest, most revealing, and most strangely exciting
record of 2012 with Half Way Home.
Right from the beginning with the opening track, “Acrobat,” it becomes clear that Olsen sings like nobody else. The easy way to describe Olsen’s voice would be to slap her with the overused word “smoky,” and while that’s all fine and nice, there is much more working
within Olsen than a singular darkness.
The reason why Olsen is one of the more unique singers out there has more to do with
the element of surprise.
Just like a great storyteller, Olsen perfectly controls her music's highs and lows, magnifying each structural twist along the way. On “Acrobat,” Olsen begins with gentle, straightforward vocals, but then after a few lines, quickly falls into an almost whisper for three words: “if I do.” She then resumes with the steady
singing, constantly hinting at a vocal explosion of emotion that never quite arrives. And then, out of nowhere,
at the 1:09 mark, Olsen croons louder and louder until the melody in the
background rewinds itself and finally resets to the steady vocals. While many first-time listeners might
find Olsen’s music a little too simple, I would suggest focusing on the playfulness of her voice from moment to moment, and then going back and
noticing how these vocal choices have consistently influenced the backing music. The result, in my opinion, is a sublime collection of thoughtful tracks.
While many will be transfixed with Olsen’s unique voice, the
most powerful element of Half Way Home is the way the listener is allowed to
discover dried up thematic material all over again, but this time with a fresh
perspective. There has been this
bizarre trend in writing where commenting on the cliché has now become the
biggest cliché of all. In a few years, it
will be commenting on the commenting of the cliché that is cliché… and so on and
so forth. Olsen strips all of this
away, offering a standard singer/songwriter album about love,
lost love, needing love, and all of the complications that surround such
themes. We’ve heard and read about
these themes over and over again. To make
them feel new again would be an artistic feat worthy of a standing
ovation… and Olsen pulls it off.
How does she do it?
While most art depicts the theme of love as a thought processed
through one person communicating with another, Olsen tackles love
through the many voices in her own head.
We all have inner thoughts that ping-pong through our brains every second of every day,
but such a universal feeling has rarely been translated so well into music. This is not Olsen simply telling you or her
lover what she is feeling. Rather, this is her capturing those moments in everyday life where
decisions are debated, where the layers of stress and “to dos” are handled, and where love and life’s other huge weights are considered. In these universal moments, Olsen is capturing her own mind. Knowing this is the approach changes
the entire album. Olsen’s vocal
changes and the ups and downs of her emotions now have an anchor point.
These changes aren't musical decisions - they're new thoughts invading previous thoughts and changing the direction of the
song. The best example is on
“Can’t Wait Until Tomorrow,” where Olsen simply talks over the softest of
strummed guitars. Her vocals
gently become more and more manic. They become faster and less coherent. It’s a stream of consciousness that
continues to roll over itself like train wheels spinning out of
control. And then the most magical
moment on Half Way Home occurs at the 1:24 mark. A large drum breaks up her rant, and Olsen bursts open with: “With all my life on my mind. Turn all my dark into light. Take all the hate in my mind… and put it aside.” With this realization and a new, complete focus
on a singular thought, Olsen repeats, “put it aside” in a whisper followed by
wobbling crooning which mimics the hundred previous thoughts fighting in her
mind, but as a complimentary hum rather than words in conflict. The viscous hum dissolves into a tranquil murmur as Olsen
seems to have actually found peace within her mind for the first time since the
song began. This less-than-a-minute moment on Half Way Home proves Olsen to be a sharp songwriter who utilizes some
of the most inventive approaches to otherwise overdone themes, all the while hiding the
brilliance under the mask of minimalism.
I love your reviews.
ReplyDeleteJust ordered. Thanks!
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