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Jul 28, 2020 Angel Olsen By Christopher Roberts Photography by Kylie Coutts

Angel Olsen has announced a new album, Whole New Mess, and shared its first single, title track “Whole New Mess,” via a video for it. The album mainly features stripped down versions of the songs found on last year’s acclaimed All Mirrors album, but also features two new songs (“Whole New Mess” and “Waving, Smiling”). While Whole New Mess was recorded before All Mirrors, these are not demos for that album; Olsen purposefully recorded two versions of these songs, always intending to release them separately. Olsen will be performing “Whole New Mess” for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon tonight. She has also announced that on release day she will be doing the third concert in her Cosmic Streams livestream series, performing from the Hazel Robinson Amphitheater in her current hometown of Asheville, NC. In the meantime, check out the Ashley Connor-directed video for “Whole New Mess” below. Also below are the album’s tracklist and cover art.

With the aid of audio engineer Michael Harris, Olsen went to a studio in the small town of Anacortes, Washington called The Unknown, in search of a space where, as she puts it in a press release, “vulnerability exists.” The Unknown is a former Catholic church converted by Mount Eerie’s Phil Elverum and producer Nicholas Wilbur. “I hadn’t been to The Unknown, but I knew about its energy. I wanted to go sit with the material and be with it in a way that felt like a residency,” Olsen says in a press release. “I didn’t need a lot, since it was just me and a guitar. But I wanted someone else there to hold me accountable for trying different things.”

Olsen also had this to say about the themes of the album: “I had gone through this breakup, but it was so much bigger than that—I’d lost friendships, too. When you get out of a relationship, you have to examine who you are or were in all the relationships. I wanted to record when I was still processing these feelings. These are the personal takes, encapsulated in a moment.”

Of the song “Whole New Mess” Olsen had this to say: “The reality is that artists are often never home so health, clear mindedness and grounding is hard to come by. The song is a mental note to try and stay sane, keep healthy, remember to breathe wherever I happen to be, because there is no saving it for back home.”

All Mirrors was our #1 Album of 2019. It also our Album of the Week and we previously posted a rave 9/10 review of the album.

Also, don’t forget that Olsen was on the cover of our last print issue, the My Favorite Album Issue (you can still buy a copy directly from us here).

Since All Mirrors’ release Olsen has kept busy.

In March Olsen covered Roxy Music’s “More Than This” and posted it to her Instagram account. The original was a hit from 1982’s Avalon.

In April Olsen did a ticketed livestreamed concert, Still At Home: An Evening of Songs on Piano and Guitar, with proceeds going to benefit her touring band and road crew, as well as the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Effort.

In April Olsen also shared an at-home cover of Tori Amos’ “Winter.”

In April she shared a remix of “All Mirrors” by Johnny Jewel of Chromatics.

In June she shared a remix of “New Love Cassette” by Mark Ronson.

In July she hosted her second Cosmic Stream concert, which included her covering Tom Petty with Hand Habits.

Also read our 2016 interview with Olsen.

Whole New Mess Tracklist:

1. Whole New Mess
2. Too Easy (Bigger Than Us)
3. (New Love) Cassette
4. (We Are All Mirrors)
5. (Summer Song)
6. Waving, Smiling
7. Tonight (Without You)
8. Lark Song
9. Impasse (Workin’ For The Name)
10. Chance (Forever Love)
11. What It Is (What It Is)

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