Angel Olsen is a Jagjaguwar alumnus that is better known for her introspective bedroom style, often acoustic in nature. It is because of this that the new single from her forthcoming album Burn Your Fire For No Witness has caught me off guard. Her sultry voice no longer occupies a fragile space with her acoustic guitar. It instead cuts through a krautorock drum pattern and a fuzz laden guitar. Very grunge, very catchy. In fact her new direction reminds me very much of a liberated Waxahatchee.
Being a new signee to Jagjaguwar and having only recently considered her musical accomplices a proper band shows promise for the eventual LP release of this album. The track has purpose and is propelled by an inherent focus. Unfortunately that focus isn’t thematically complicated, neither is it aesthetically complex, it simply works. The fact that I can very easily find parallels between her and other established (and not established) artists serves my point. Vivian Girls, Waxahatchee, Deerhunter, The Modern Lovers, and The Dum Dum Girls made an appearance in my head as I listened to the track the first time through. Does this completely undermine her? Most definitely not, the track is undeniably endearing, I simply hope for a better developed and individualistic sophomore LP.
7/10
Burn Your Fire For No Witness will be released 18/2/14 on Jagjaguwar
