Twenty-tens breakout star Angel Olsen performed at Milwaukee’s Turner Hall Ballroom on Thursday evening. After a killer opening by Kara Jackson, the band entered the stage to ambient music, an apt start to the set which, above anything else, created an absolutely delicious atmosphere in the historic building.
“I just got so inspired today, and I felt like maybe I should start writing another song or something,” Olsen said to the audience. “A little throwback, but a different kind of throwback, I’ve done all the other ones.”
She opened the set with Dream Thing, a sparse but cinematic Americana ballad from her 2022 album Big Time. The audience was silent, nearly eerily so, during this first number. She followed up with Spring from her 2019 album All Mirrors, moving a bit more toward the alt-country/indie sound she became synonymous with early on in her career.
“Thursday is the day of sin, don’t you know,” Olsen preached to the audience. The mid-week crowd was unsurprisingly rapt with Olsen and her minimalist crew, so rapt that they remained largely tech-free throughout the whole performance. An incredible feat, as most modern shows are plagued by a sea of phones recording the live experience.
One of the more mystifying aspects of seeing Olsen live is the quality of the live mixing. The five-piece band sounded absolutely lush and expertly restrained. The sound resonated clearly throughout the venue. If the set wasn’t broken up by some banter and instrument swaps, I could have closed my eyes and swore that I was listening to a recorded studio album.
“I forgot why I put this song so early in the set,” said Olsen before starting her third song. “I think I just wanted to rock. Any lovers out there tonight?” She then performed her breakout hit, Shut Up, Kiss Me from her incredible 2016 album, My Woman.
She followed up her hit with her song Give It Up, another killer track on My Woman. Then on to Sweet Dreams from Phases, a throwback tune that has a vintage Grace Slick quality to it.
Afterward, she pivoted back to her latest album, Big Time, this time, playing the sixth song from the LP, Right Now. Her vulnerability peaks with this tune, “We all know that it’s hard/Hard to stay forever/But l’m telling you right now/If we’re apart or here together/I need to be myself/I won’t live another lie/About the feelings that I have/I won’t be with you and hide.”
“We’re gonna simmer down, don’t you worry,” Olsen said before starting another ballad, This Is How It Works. “This is a sad song, after all. That’s what you came for, isn’t it, you little perverts? Trying to go to the show to cry. Fuckin’ assholes, you better be happy I fuckin’ wrote this song for you to cry to.”
Olsen’s crack-your-heart-open vulnerability is somehow never saccharine, instead it’s balanced and measured, culminating in an intimate sound that feels affectionate, not overbearing.
The band was paramount in the success of this live sound. Stewart on guitar, Emily on bass, and Sam on drums were a completely simpatico team, tasked with the challenge of restraining with a calculated precision, creating an ambient soundscape, never overpowering. But the band was made complete with the addition of Nona Invie on keyboard and back up vocals. She was a stand out contender, and created incredible lower-register harmonies with Olsen. They were completely aligned, and had an incredible can’t-look-away on-stage chemistry that transformed the sound and the vibe of the performance.
Clad in a gorgeous black and gold gown, the 2010s darling looked like she could have been plucked right out the ‘70s. Her many albums and EPs not only span a variety of melodic genres, but her performance has a timeless quality that would make just as much sense at The Grand Ole Opry or Red Rocks as it would at an intimate house show or our own Turner Hall Ballroom.
Effortlessly, her sound cannot be tied to a certain time or place. Loretta Lynn, Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval, Chromatics’ Ruth Radelet, and Sinéad O’Connor; in small moments throughout the set, Angel Olsen’s voice evoked all of these incredible musicians, while being something completely her own. She belts, she mellows, she evokes, she has a steady, sensitive and defenseless approach to her art that has made her irresistible for over 10 years.