Review: Angel Olsen – Whole New Mess

Angel Olsen is a singer-songwriter known for her indie folk/rock and alternative country music. She releases her fifth studio album Whole New Mess less than a year after her 2019 All Mirrors. After a slightly disappointing 2019 release, I was excited to see a new project so soon (many artists have sped up their music creation process because of the pandemic). This LP consists of raw, demo-like tracks that heavily contrast with Olsen’s previous album. Olsen’s stylistic elements contribute to her desire to portray the breakdown of her identity and life. Beginning with the title track, Olsen immediately plunges the listener into a messy song with a muddy instrumental and lyrics about being stuck in a cycle of cleaning up and making messes. It is a truly melancholic introduction; something I have not heard in a while. My track-by-track analysis:

Too Easy (Bigger Than Us) – A very intentionally demo-like track with subtle instrumental and vocal elements that give a lot of musical nuance.

(New Love) Cassette – “Gonna love you / you / true / you” has an amazing melodic progression. Olsen’s vocals are high-pitched and extremely eerie at points. She finishes the short cut with contrasting low vocals, and then the same high vocals.

(We Are All Mirrors) – Maybe this is actually a demo from her last album. I start to notice how ominous the unfocused guitar is. Olsen is in a stagnant, cyclic phase of remembering her past relationship.

(Summer Song) – Before the summer, Olsen seemed to have gone through one of the hardest, most traumatic parts of her life, questioning if all the happenings were destiny. However, the summer rushed all the love in the world back to her. There is a simple instrumental, but this song is really about the lyrics; they are not dense but are extremely emotional.

Waving, Smiling – This middle track feels different because it is not lo-fi and is more polished. “I’m waving, smiling / At love forever / Alive and dying.”

*Tonight (Without You) – A truly terrifying track; the lyrics are just chilling as Olsen opens up about feeling not in fear and generally better when she is not with her significant other. The stripped-down, minimalistic instrumental immensely contributes to the spine-tingling atmosphere of this song.

Lark Song – Lark Song feels like a six and a half-minute breakup ballad that includes the natural distortion of Olsen’s head voice when the lo-fi microphone cannot handle her pitch anymore. “I see the past it’s all the lasts”, “What about my dreams?”, “crying in the dark”. I feel like Olsen is describing a power imbalance.

*Impasse (Workin’ for the Name) – “Take it all out on me” and “Everybody will believe / will believe you”. It sounds like a continuation from Lark Song but more confidence in the fact that everything is in Olsen’s head. This song marks a time of pure mental deterioration as she aggressively claims, “I’ve never lost anyone.”

Chance (Forever Love) – A very repetitive song that fittingly shows Olsen’s wishes and regrets. All vocals are echoey and adamantly emphasized.

What It Is (What It Is) – This is a strangely playful-sounding cut, but, again, it is eerie. An interesting ending. “Knowing that you love someone / Doesn’t mean you ever were in love.”

Generally, the demo-like album is an intriguing concept, but a conflicting execution. Olsen undoubtedly showcases her breakdown beautifully on Whole New Mess as the songs dwell in a muddy deterioration. It feels like she had just finished balling her eyes out before recording each of these songs. This vibe definitely made her lyrics more convincing, along with the skeletal instrumentals on every cut. However, the lack of good instrumentation left a lot to be desired. Even though the bare production may be intentional, it arguably makes the album one-dimensional. Furthermore, the techniques Olsen uses to emphasize her lyrics are nuanced and effective, but the lyrics themselves are vague, hurting her portrayal of her “breakdown.” The project was a conflicting experience for me but is very enjoyable; there is just a lot of apparent missed opportunities.

Favorite songs: Whole New Mess, Tonight (Without You), and Impasse (Workin’ for the Name)

Least favorites: Chance (Forever Love)

Score: 7.1