In the interviews surrounding her upcoming album, MY WOMAN, Angel Olsen has emphasized her desire to not be pigeonholed. To prove this point, the album’s three singles have each concentrated on a different aspect of Olsen’s musical personality. First there was “Intern,” a glittery ode to existence and daydreaming. “Shut Up Kiss Me” painted Olsen as a rollicking, relentless romantic. But not until Side B’s “Sister” is it obvious that Olsen is still figuring herself out and, more importantly, that she is cool with the resulting complications.
“Sister” reaches this introspective conclusion after an almost-eight minute journey that, rather than being anthemic, is relatively uneventful (after all, epiphanies rarely arrive after a literal lightening strike). Beginning with the sort of yearning guitar strum that could kick off an early Taylor Swift love song, the song transforms into a sun-stroked Neil Young ballad. Such a lengthy track inherently requires patience from its audience, but “Sister” has little difficulty hooking Olsen’s audience onto every protracted word through pure honesty.
Posted from:https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/18508-angel-olsen-sister/