Olsen overcomes awkwardness with soaring voice, strong songs
After a handful of awkward moments, Angel Olsen interrupted the silence at the Pabst Theater Sunday night with a confession.
“Theaters always make me feel like I’m in church, so I’m trying to dismantle those feelings,” the St. Louis-born singer-songwriter said.
She will want to dismantle them permanently because she’s going to be headlining larger and larger theaters for the foreseeable future.
A onetime backing singer for Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Olsen, 30, became a critical fave in her own right with the 2014 album “Burn Your Fire for No Witness,” her style of heart-on-the-sleeve folk finding inspiration from rugged garage rock and achingly lovely country music from the ‘50s (minus the twang).
Last year’s “My Woman” was a bolder statement in every possible way, from the more ambitious arrangements to a loose theme that addresses “the complicated mess of being a woman,” Olsen told the Guardian. It was the 12th-best album of 2016, according to review aggregator Metacritic.
Yet Olsen still seems to be getting her bearings as a live act, based on her 80-minute set at the Pabst Sunday. The frequent between-song pauses and Olsen’s uncomfortable attempts at banter were more reminiscent of a low-cover club gig than a theater show.
“Shut Up Kiss Me,” featuring Olsen at her most brazen, demanding a lover stop crying and hold her tight, was largely void of the vamping relish and confidence so easily expressed on the signature recording.
Fortunately, Olsen was surrounded by a five-piece band — including two members of opening act Mount Moriah, hailing from her current home base in North Carolina — that created plenty of tension with sturdy anthemic builds and loud-quiet-loud dynamics.
As Olsen sang of an all-encompassing love during “Not Gonna Kill You,” the band steadily upped the volume, then shifted gears and delayed the impending climax, making the raw rockout finish a wilder rush.
And during “Heart Shaped Face,” ‘90s grunge-inspired guitar dropped out, allowing Olsen’s Chris Isaak-like croon to hover over near silence as she sang, “Have whatever love you want to have/But I can’t be here anymore.”
Sudden instrumental absence was a repeated trick Sunday, but thanks to Olsen’s growing assurance, it never became tired. Her soaring voice peaked at the opportune moment for the climax of the simmering, 7-minute-plus “Woman,” the final song before the encore.
She returned to perform “Tiniest Seed,” off her 2012 album “Half Way Home,” but as she sang about the lonesome loss of a friendship, Olsen couldn’t help chuckling.
Not the right tone exactly. On the bright side, at least she stopped feeling like an out-of-place churchgoer.