The close proximity of grief and love on Angel Olsen’s “Big Time”

Big Time — Angel Olsen

Released June 3, 2022

With a concise 10 song tracklist, everything about this record feels intentional. In an interview for Apple Music, Olsen said “If you overthink things, you’re really going down into a hole.” Which perfectly explains the airy, floating, dream-like world that Olsen builds with co-producer Jonathan Wilson.

The album starts with “All The Good Times” which sounds like a 70s country rock, Buffalo Sprinfield esque sound before moving on to “Big Time” and its old school country vibe that I could hear Patsy Cline singing on. But by the end of the album, the songs take a jazzier inspiration with more thoughts of Norah Jones and Laufey than Cline. The shifting point is “Right Now” which sounds both like Jones and Sierra Ferrell, making it a perfect example of this jazzy, indie-pop-country vibe that can be heard across the album.

My favorite tracks are “Big Time,” “Ghost On,” and “Go Home,” which sounds a bit like early Florence.

Thematically, there are a few ways this album can be read. There are several songs that could be about either new love or grief, depending on the listener, which may say something more philosophically about the close proximity of those two feelings to each other. Olsen wrote of this album that it’s “not just about transformational mourning,” referring to the death of both her parents passed away within a two week span of each other, “but of finding freedom and joy in the privations as they come.” Reading the lyrics, the words feel so heavy but listening to the music, it’s very light, like floating. This mix of light and heavy reminded me of Angie McMahon, who has been said to be “the Aussie amalgam of Angel Olsen and Florence Welch.” McMahon has additionally cited Olsen as an influence, saying “I really look up to her as an artist.”

I didn’t feel inspired to say as much about this record as I have for others I’ve reviewed. But I would rather say what I have to say, even if it’s short, than waffle on for the sake of writing a longer piece. It’s not that I find anything wrong with this album, not at all. Whether that’s due to difficulty relating to the lyrics or simply that it just didn’t grab me, I am still thoroughly impressed by Olsen and can absolutely see why it was regarded so highly when it was released. I just don’t imagine myself reaching for it much in the future.