Angel Olsen

Settle in and get comfortable-- because once you start listening to Angel Olsen's new album Burn Your Fire for No Witness, you're going to be there for a while. The singer and songwriter has proven that she's already a pro at crafting raw, heartfelt folk on previous albums Strange Cacti and Half Way Home, but her newest effort packs a major, gut-wrenching punch. With producer John Congleton, Olsen's dreamy vibes and reverb take a focused angle. The result? Stripped-down, gorgeous, and guaranteed to make you feel feelings...lots of them.  

"I didn't like the idea of working with a hotshot producer, because I didn't want it to be too polished," Olsen explains over the phone. She's in Nashville, rehearsing for her upcoming tour. "But what we ended up doing was taking what I'd learned from the last two albums and applying it to this one, and it came out great--not too over-produced." While songs like her first single "Forgiven/Forgotten" weave Olsen's no-holds-barred lyrics and open vulnerability, there's a definite added kick this time. 

While Olsen says she didn't have a planned concept in mind while making the record, "once we started listening to the songs and figuring out which should go where, all of these vignettes began to tell a story." It's the type of album that begs to be listened to in its entirety, and guarantees a different response from everyone who tunes in. Just take the album title, which is borrowed from the track "White Fire." 

"It's about this idea that you face certain things in life and it's up to you to make a decision to put up with them or not," she says. "Nobody is going to do it for you." One thing you should do, however, is get to know Angel Olsen before she heads out on tour...so buy Burn Your Fire For No Witness on February 18, and watch the video for "Forgiven/Forgotten" below!