Last year, singer/songwriter Angel Olsen arrived via Half Way Home, a collection of mostly hushed folk tune more spirit than flesh-and-blood. A number like "Acrobat" found Olsen placing her smoldering warble atop a plaintive fingerpicked melody; creating a musical ghost story.
If the press release for her forthcoming album Burn Your Fire For No Witness is any indication, Olsen's second LP (out through new home Jagjaguwar) doesn't so much smolder as it "stokes the fire and aggravates the flames inside of Angel releasing an energy and voice not heard before." First single "Forgiven/Forgotten" has more than enough of that crackling quality to validate the claim. Fuzzed out electric guitars erupt from the speakers and obstinate drums boom, providing a prime slice of garage rock. As smoky as ever, Olsen's voice continues to linger. Now though her voice is more distant, hidden behind walls of reverb. "I don't know anything, but I love you" she resolutely declares near the song's end. Even with the added musculature, her songs are still fragile.
Burn Your Fire For No Witness, produced John Congleton (The Walkmen, Modest Mouse, Okkervil River), is out February 18 through Jagjaguwar.
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