Whole New Mess, Angel Olsen

All albums are reviewed on a scale from one to ten, with ten being the highest possible score.

Please Note: All views expressed here are the author’s own.

On August 28th 2020, Angel Olsen released her fifth studio album, Whole New Mess, almost 10 months after her last album All Mirrors. The two albums are very similar and use over half of the same songs, with various titles but the same lyrics. 9 out of the 11 songs are actually the same, lyrically speaking, in All Mirrors and Whole New Mess. Initially, listeners might be confused about this piece and wonder why it would be released as its own separate album.

To answer this question, I would say that Whole New Mess is the foundation and bare bones of All Mirrors. They are not sister albums; but matured versions of one another. They both convey the same themes of love, taking a chance on it, losing it and expressing it. Olsen still maintains her signature voice along with her fluid and lyrically thoughtful melodies coupled with indie and alternative influences.  

Whole New Mess was recorded by Olsen and sound engineer Micheal Harris in Anacortes, Washington over the course of 10 days in a catholic church-turned-studio. To get her natural voice to shine through, the pair used the church's corridors and original architecture to project her lyrics. This setting is key to understanding how Olsen wanted the listener and herself to hear this album.

The acoustic rendition of her work is bare and isolating. Songs like the opener “Whole New Mess” illustrate the personal nature of this album with the repeating lines “Make a whole new mess again.” The songs are raw and transparent—just her voice and the acoustic guitar. Olsen uses the techniques of dragging out her voice, toned down melodies, and soft composition to display the vulnerability of the piece as a whole. 

Whole New Mess very noticeably does not feature the same 12-piece string set Olsen included throughout All Mirrors. However, the simple instrumentals in this most recent album allow the listener to visualize Olsen alone with her thoughts and feelings. Olsen’s ability to convey emotions equivalent of an entire band with solely her voice alone is shockingly beautiful. Her painful tone and use of slowed-down reverbs truly allows the listener to disassociate while experiencing what loneliness feels like.

WORDS BY RILEY YOUNGER, STAFF WRITER