Riding the success of her recent releases, Angel Olsen takes a new orchestral direction on All Mirrors
Angel Olsen’s All Mirrors is a grand orchestral pop expedition into passion and loss. Just two years since the release of her last album, Phases, and three years since the major critical success of My Woman, Olsen has pivoted from her trusted folk-rock roots to a more bombastic, ambitious route on this newest project.
Olsen’s lyrics are often questioning and timid yet her vocal delivery carries all the power. This is especially apparent on the track “Impasse” where she belts “Take it out on me, I’m too caught up to see […] You know best, don’t you know” over gloomy swelling strings, creating a beautiful yet deeply unsettling atmosphere, a tone that appears often in the album.
Despite a sprinkling of upbeat moments on the album such as “Too Easy,” All Mirrors is incredibly dark. There is a palpable anger running through this project. Whether it’s anger at a past love like on “Lark,” or anger at herself as on the title track, Olsen isn’t letting anyone off the hook. All Mirrors is what a breakup album should be, Olsen’s songs of self-reflection and ire bring us even deeper into this powerful singer-songwriter’s mind.
9/10
Trial Track: “All Mirrors”
Star Bar:
“It’s easy if you tell the truth
But knowing what it is, it’s not enough
And knowing that you love someone
Doesn’t mean you ever were in love” (“What It Is”)