LIVING IN THE PRESENT Breakout indie folk artist Angel Olsen won’t stress about what she’s done before or what she’ll do next BY BRIAN PALMER
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AUTUMN NORTHCRAFT PHOTO
ngel Olsen doesn’t think about the future when making her art. It’s not so much that the past is prologue, as the old saying goes, but it’s more that life is always changing and evolving for her, and so she rarely dwells on the past. Even when it comes to talking about the genesis of some of her songs, it’s as though some catharsis has been achieved by simply writing them; she doesn’t want to remember what inspired them in the first place. “Something autobiographical is often happening [when I start writing] my songs, but then when I go back and listen to them, I can’t say, ‘This song is about this,’” says Olsen, who was a member of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s backing band by age 23 before breaking out on her own. “I’ve found that when I go back, I don’t really remember what it is I wrote about, that moment that initially felt so important to me that I needed to write about it.” Even if she doesn’t like to revel in the past, it’s certainly defined her now-hauntingly angelic, retro-’60s sound. To be sure, it’s rare that the St. Louis native, who recently moved to Asheville, North Carolina, goes back and listens to her past work. It’s been five months ...continued on next page
JULY 24, 2014 INLANDER 47