It had never occurred to you that it might be romantic? “I mean, I had flirted with it. Had Olsen ever worked with a partner before? “I had dated Meg Duffy for a few months, and we sang a song together, but I’d never written a song with anyone.” Olsen tells the story of her relationship with Duffy the pair had been friends for years, and had toured together, but she suddenly found it difficult to be around Duffy and couldn’t understand why. It’s scary to share that with a partner, because you never know what will happen, but I’ll never forget that they were the one that was there for me.” “They were there for me when my mom died. But it’s representing dealing with the fear of losing everyone.” As well as co-starring in the film, Thibodeaux also co-wrote the song Big Time, which is as close to a love song as Olsen has ever put out. “I wasn’t pressured by my partner in that way. “That wasn’t based in reality,” she says. Olsen’s partner, Beau Thibodeaux, makes an appearance, pushing Olsen to come out to her family. And then I’m like: “Oh shit, people are here to see me”’ … Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen. ‘It’s almost just a story that I do this for a living. “I just hope she’s not turning in her grave about it.” It hasn’t even been a year since her mother died. I wanted to share her voice with the world, too.” She smiles, a little sadly. But I want to talk about my mom, and I want it to be a homage to her. It is an eerie fable with touches of Twin Peaks and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – at one point it includes a voicemail she received from her mother. The film compiles the singles’ videos into a longer narrative, inspired by a dream Olsen had on the day that her mother died. “I’m still kind of like: ‘Am I crazy?’ I didn’t know that I would tell everyone this.” There is a companion film to the album, a collaboration with the director Kimberly Stuckwisch, who made the video for Olsen’s anthemic duet with Sharon Van Etten, Like I Used To. When she was writing these songs, did she know that she was going to be so open about what inspired them? She shakes her head.
Then adds, with a Parton-esque flourish: “You can either feel sorry for yourself or learn how to laugh deeper.” I’m getting used to the fact that things get more complicated as we get older,” she says. Who cares about these other troubles in my life? It made me feel quiet. What made her feel like that? “I think after losing my parents, that brought everything to the forefront.
“I felt a little bit more at ease with talking about love and how I fell in love,” she says. She has worn wigs and costumes, and been evasive in interviews, even issuing fact sheets before journalists met her.
In her other eras, Olsen has said that she writes in character and that her songs are not autobiographical. Big Time is as rich with love as it is heavy with loss, often reflecting on both within the same four minutes of song. Her father died days later her mother a few weeks after him. Last year, she met a new partner, and, at 34, made the decision to come out to her family and fans. She was raised in St Louis, Missouri, as one of eight children, having been adopted aged three by her foster parents, who were already retired when she came along. They were written during an eventful period in Olsen’s life. The title is ambiguous – does it mean success, is it a point of emphasis, a declaration of certainty, or all three? – but the songs are clear-eyed, softer, more personal and more direct. The obsessions this time were Neil Young, Big Star, Dolly Parton and Dusty Springfield. Its sound nods to Americana and the country music that has always trickled through her various incarnations. I think that’s why I end up leaning into different genres, because the obsession makes it new again.” Her last EP, Aisles, was a synth-heavy collection of 80s covers, though she admits that hopping around different genres makes it difficult to come up with a coherent setlist.īig Time is another departure. Instead, she says: “I follow my obsessions. When she is living her life in a different way, at home in Asheville, North Carolina, she doesn’t play music often. I think that’s why I end up leaning into different genres’ … Angel Olsen.