Angel Olsen

xp the Nicole Atkins record has horn sections and behind the beat grooves all over it. I was being PRECISE.

I did not. I'm trying to define what posters mean by "country." The fuck are you so upset about?

Get down from the cross.

Who the fuck are you talking to here?

Only a plebe would cue up an Angel Olsen "country" record expecting it to sound like 21st century popular country music, and you're definitely not a plebe, so it came across as very disingenuous. It was the Isbell crack that put me on edge, though, because it's not like that either.

Without getting into the billionth authenticity argument, I'll just say that there's stuff written to a pro tools grid and stuff that's more traditional and loose, and you can like both, one or the other, or neither. But they're very different.

the country influence has definitely been overstated in the press, like it's really just the first two tracks & "this is how it works" where it's prominent

It's like the Wilco record, mentioned above, where people hear a pedal or lap steel and think GODDAM IT'S COUNTRY MUSIC! Some people bitch about Americana even being a term/genre, but I guess we've gotta call it something, and I'd call about half of the record Americana.

When I play an Angel Olsen album, even with pedal steel guitar, I expect it to sound closer to Phoebe Bridgers and, yes, Jason Isbell: well-wrought singer-songwriter material.

I don't know what you mean by your second paragraph, not when Lambert can write and perform to or without a Pro Tools grid, as she's proven in the last 12 months. And Olsen may use Pro Tools -- and who cares if she did?

People like Charlie Hughes and Jewly Hight can give better definitions for Americana, and my distillation is "folk music with the same roots as country but without the kitsch or the sops to an ever-shifting audience."

where people hear a pedal or lap steel and think GODDAM IT'S COUNTRY MUSIC!

and there's not even that much of it here

ok I'm just going to dance around all that back-and-forth and try to respond in good faith.

Obviously being "country" can mean a lot of things. Miranda Lambert is not a stand-in for country any more than Jason Isbell or anyone else. I didn't expect her to sound like either of those. Yeah maybe the "indie" version of going country is just being a little rootsier and adding some traditionally country instruments like pedal steel. If this entire album sounded like the first two tracks I would say "this is Angel's country album." That's not the same as saying "someone book her at the Grand Ole Opry and get her on the country radio stations and put her on tour with Morgan Wallen or whoever. So yeah maybe there is an unspoken indie/country crossover vibe here and I'll just try to ignore anyone who might scoff at the notion.

Within that crossover I look at someone like Waxahatchee, whose last album was way more Americana than anything else she's done prior. It may not be some pure epitome of Country Music but I sure do think the world of it and it works on my mixes alongside other acts I like, like Josh Ritter and Margo Cilker and Neko Case and Lillie Mae. And hell, she just did a duet with Wynonna Judd.

Angel Olsen is not someone I'd have added to that mix but there are probably four songs on this album that could fit. And Angel herself was teasing that this was the direction of the album. I'm glad she's going in this direction, this is my favorite album from her to date, and also I wish she'd taken it even further because I don't think it fully delivers on what she was teasing.

several xps Since we're using Miranda as an example, everything about the new record, or her last several, is recorded to be directly on the beat down to like thousandths of a second, no imperfections, no swing, no nothing. Some people (a lot of people, tbh) love that, because that's what popular music sounds like now regardless of genre. That's "the grid."

You can also make an album recording into pro tools without writing to the grid. It can be loose and messy and imperfect, like it was for most of the history of recorded music, but you can't get a hit single now that way.

Good post, pgwp, thanks.

Since we're using Miranda as an example, everything about the new record, or her last several, is recorded to be directly on the beat down to like thousandths of a second, no imperfections, no swing, no nothing. Some people (a lot of people, tbh) love that, because that's what popular music sounds like now regardless of genre. That's "the grid."

But it's also how country sounded when Owen Bradley, Billy Sherrill, Rodney Crowell, Chips Moman, you name'em, recorded their clients. You're creating an authenticity binary b/w this and "loose and messy and imperfect."

and Olsen sounds...rather precise and on-the-nose to me, which is description not criticism.

Nah, there's a difference between recording to a click and digitally snapping drums/guitars/etc to a precise point on the grid in post production. I'm surprised that with as many types of music as you listen to you can't tell which is which.

"loose and messy and imperfect" doesn't necessarily mean Sonic Youth on Confusion Is Sex. It can just mean it has some modicum of naturalness.

I don't think it matters? Certainly not as a basis to judge authenticity or whatever. I mean, Lambert's huge, but she's not attracting Wallen fans precisely because they regard her as traditional (and Lambert released an acoustic album, as you know, with two of her collaborators last year, so she's comfortable in any mode) There's no winning.

Anyway, sorry to derail it to this degree. pgwp did a better job of capturing the reasons I read your initial comment with a raised eyebrow.

This album sounds much closer to Twin Peaks Roadhouse than any country/Americana.

Which is rooted in 50s/early 60s stuff like Roy Orbison (who in turn has cinematic country/rockabilly elements), which has always been a strong vein in Olsen's work, imo.

I didn't care for All Mirrors and actively disliked the 80s covers EP, so that's why I'm surprised by how much I vibe with this one.

yes, a pleasant surprise indeed

Jonathan Wilson is a good producer

not to add to thread derail but the Marfa Tapes was one of my big eoy discoveries, wonderful record, very off the grid which is a big part of the appeal

Twin Peaks Roadhouse

Yeah, I never thought about that being a proper aesthetic, but it's definitely become one.

the twin peaks comment is otm, but it’s executed really well. the arrangements on songs like “right now” and “through the fires” are stunning

This has nothing to do with the new album, which I haven't heard in full, but... I recently heard Emmylou Harris's "Wrecking Ball" for the first time, and realized it would sound perfectly at home on My Woman.

Sadly I have come back to this album a half dozen times and it does absolutely nothing for me besides leave me incredibly bored.

I enjoy it, but it's not wild or out there, it's a nice singer songwriter album with a country tinge

some good songs

maybe frontloaded

Definitely frontloaded. Some of my favorite songs by her. But it does trail off.