Angel Olsen, The Cluny, Newcastle
- Written by Lee Hammond
Touring her second album and first with a full band, the former Bonnie Prince Billy backing singer Angel Olsen makes her way to Newcastle, bringing with her, her friend Rodrigo Amarante who takes to the stage alone, the packed audience make him feel nothing but welcome.
He flits between English and Portugese as he serenades us with his delicately picked acoustic guitar and well-chosen words. Delivered in a soft, sweet manner Amarante seems genuinely touched by the crowd’s reaction this evening. At the same time it is nothing less than he deserves, we’re blown away by the delicacy and beauty as the man bares his soul in front of us.
In something of a contrast Angel Olsen takes to the stage with her band, and her voice is as beautiful as Amarante’s if not more so. Yet there is a much fuller sound filling our ears - Angel’s beautiful Americana infused indie rock. Theres a real passion in the early part of Angel’s set, and whilst the band is there her voice upstages everything.
She is almost motionless whilst delivering her heartfelt tracks, and numbers such as ‘Stars’ sound exquisite; the music becoming supplementary to the lyrics, and whilst there is little movement on stage, it adds to the captivating element of the performance. We’re seduced by the power of Angel’s voice, as if it were a spell of some sort.
‘Lights Out’ possesses a phenomenal Americana quality to it; Angel’s set evolving in front of our eyes. The earlier parts are much folkier, though as she traverses into Americana ‘Lights Out’ is arguably one of the stand-out tracks of the evening. The gorgeous guitars fill our ears as a deep pain fills her voice and we’re like over-excited teenagers as she raises the tempo even more.
The latter part of the set is a much rockier affair, reminiscent of another favourite of ours Courtney Barnett. ‘Forgiven / Forgotten’ is a brilliantly brash slab of lo-fi , perhaps a simpler track than some of the earlier ones but one that doesn’t fail to provoke a hefty crowd reaction. As Angel chants “I don’t know anything.” The awesome fuzzy guitars are a welcomed break to the quieter sounds of earlier on this evening.
Angel closes out her set with a beautifully spaced out cover of ‘Dreams’ by Fleetwood Mac, another personal favourite of ours but this version takes this song to a whole other level. As the band leave the stage Angel remains for one final track ‘May as Well,’ another beautiful song filled with heart and a complete contrast to the latter part of the set, yet it compliments them so well despite its sad tone. A truly fitting end to what has been a very special evening.