★ ★ ★ ★
While many musicians reach a point in their careers where they start incorporating string arrangements and black-and-white portrait photography as album art, Angel Olsen has a fresh take on this. Her fifth studio album All Mirrors is a much more opulent iteration of her distinct style from previous releases. The album strays away from her signature lo-fi rock production and insecure persona. Instead, her songs become more self-reflective, and more than half of them feature a full orchestra.
Olsen’s tendency to write songs that start slow and quiet, then build to a dramatic chorus followed by a long instrumental ending, isn’t lost on this album. It’s part of her signature style. On the six-minute opening track ‘Lark’, Olsen perfectly portrays a range of emotions lyrically as well as musically. Songs like ‘Too Easy’ and ‘What It Is’ stand out with a slightly more optimistic, synth-y sound. Another highlight on the album is the song ‘Impasse’ with its almost mantric repetition.
All Mirrors not only distinguishes itself from the rest of her discography but brings something new to the table in the way Olsen uses the musical intensity to reveal something raw and unfiltered about herself.
Kasia O’Connor – Music Writer
