Angel Olsen’s Dreamy New 7″ [video]

Angel Olsen’s Half Way Home solidified her status as folk goddess, lulling both fans and critics into a heavy swoon. Her love for the classics bled through her unique voice and spilled onto the record with ease. Despite this, my initial listen wasn’t an easy one. While I immediately knew I liked the record, I needed to acclimate to her vocal style before I could digest the lyrics. After several earnest listens, though, I was in love with Half Way Home.

Olsen released her new 7” on January 15, and this round, I was both prepped and frenzied for new material. Both songs are saturated with loneliness and longing, bone-aching emotions that Olsen is so adept at conveying. “Sweet Dreams” employs distorted guitars, and the refrain of “alone” is strongly reminiscent of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game”. She sings of desolation and the desire to connect, admitting “I’ll love you most when I first find love in myself.” The second track, “California”, embraces her more signature folk style, with light acoustics and simple percussion, where Olsen confesses she’s “never felt quite so open for love.” I’m not sure which I adore more, her voice or her lyrics, but the words in one portion of “California” had me hitting rewind: “There’s just something about the way you surrender your eyes. Without this barrier, our bodies, we’d already be inside.” Swoon.

Angel Olsen’s music is a wild, fascinating creature whose strength lies in the organic and vulnerable state in which she allows it to dwell, exposing its raw and ravishing beauty. Olsen is a force of nature worth being studied, but never tamed or tampered with. Watch the video for “Sweet Dreams” above, and be sure to check out Angel Olsen’s Sleepwalker 7” out now on Sixteen Tambourines.