Review: Angel Olsen at The Rechabite

Angel Olsen at The Rechabite
w/ Klaude
Tuesday, March 7, 2023

This year’s Perth Festival has really had a stellar line-up. And leading the way has been some incredibly talented women. One of the highlights though was the return of Angel Olsen for two nights at The Rechabite. Apart from a small solo gig in 2018, Olsen hasn’t played here since her impressive full band show in 2016, in support of her breakthrough third album My Woman. Since then, her star has continued to ascend, as she continues to mature on each album. Her transformation from a quirky, folk singer with bangs and a warbling voice, into an indie-rock powerhouse frontwoman is complete.

After emerging on the scene quietly in 2012 with her haunting folk-rock debut Half Way Home, Olsen has been prolific and ever-evolving, releasing consistent and diverse records, all led by her incredible, subtle, yet powerful and dynamic voice that can range from a delicate whisper to a full-blown howl.

This tour was originally planned before Covid hit, in support of her 2019 album All Mirrors. Since that and most other tours were cancelled, Angel has been keeping busy. Apart from producing one of her best albums yet in Big Time, her sixth studio LP, the couple of years leading up to the release of the album saw Olsen release Whole New Mess (a more sparse and acoustic version of All Mirrors with a couple of new tracks), as well as Aisles – a supercool EP of 80s covers, and big single Like I Used To – her perfectly paired collaboration with Sharon Van Etten.

Then, a few months before she started recording the new album, Olsen decided to quietly come out online, simply posting picture of her partner with the comment “I’m gay!” She then told her parents – religious foster parents who raised her in St. Louis, Missouri since she was three – then three days later her father tragically died in his sleep. Two months after that, her mother died of heart failure. Suddenly losing both parents was a lot to deal with; so she threw herself into the recording process, and a lot of emotion comes through in the album. Strangely, Big Time sounds laidback, self-assured and upbeat, and even features a warm country-influenced vibe. It’s one of Olsen’s best, as she fronts a tight band with a big sound. As she herself stated, “I am a very different person than I was in 2020. I am irreversibly changed.”

So the new Angel Olsen was in town, and it was exciting to see how the new album would translate live in the wonderful Rechabite Hall, which has been a superb Festival venue this year, in absence of the Festival Gardens pop-up space. And she didn’t disappoint, despite being very tired as she repeatedly told us (the poor band had all just flown from over east and only had a few hours sleep).

Starting the night off were cool local three-piece, Klaude. A young, fairly new band who commented how nervous they were playing such a packed, big room, as opposed to at home for their friends and people who have seen them in their PJs. But if they had any nerves, they didn’t let it affect them, as they delivered a polished performance.

Lead singer and guitarist Codie has a great voice and the bassist, Willow kept things locked down, while also producing the backing tracks, beats and synths, which were used to great effect. Ethan on drums had only learnt the songs recently and did well. They have a really full, lush sound – sophisticated and moody rock with a 90s alt sound, and at times a gothy electro edge with strong multilayered vocals. They became more comfortable and confident, with some good tunes, cute in between song banter and awkward charm. They would have won a few new fans for sure. They're a band with great potential who are likely to be playing bigger stages soon.

The lights went down, and the colourfully dressed Big Time band took the stage, followed by Angel Olsen. The lights stayed minimal as they launched straight into Dream Thing, a gentle opener that saw the Big Time band slowly unfurl, demonstrating their expansive ability. It was a wonderfully performed and diverse set, focussed on the new album, and showed how Olsen has grown and become such a great band leader. Despite being surrounded by many talented players and colourful characters, she always commanded attention, especially when she hit those big notes.

Big Time sounded great live, with the country twang and slide guitar toned down a touch for this band. Ghost On built to a huge swinging and rocking ending. As well as Angel on guitar and vocals, the band included a cellist and violinist, plus keys and backing vocals, guitar, bass and drums, giving the songs a real depth.

“I’m so tired. I’ve only had four hours sleep. I could play a new song I wrote last night. Can we skip Right Now, cos I might fall asleep? It’s really slow and long. It’s like the quaalude song,” she joked. Despite looking tired, she carried on like a pro, and thankfully she still did play Right Now, and it was amazing. A real centrepiece of the new album, it’s a truly huge track that takes off in the second half, before building to a huge climax with stomping beats and driving strings, and Angel belting out and repeating, “I’m telling you right now, right now.”

She mentioned again, the song she wrote in her sleep last night, and said she’d play the song for us right now. This sounded like an exciting exclusive, but in fact, she was playing with us – and they launched into an old song, Shut Up Kiss Me, the big single from 2016's My Woman, though with a cool twist on the last note, breaking out into an epic jam.

She apologised again as she was trying badly to tune her guitar. “Don’t try and tune a guitar tired. I think I just untuned it five levels.” Thankfully she got some onstage help from her friendly guitar tech, though wasn’t done playing with us yet, calmly saying “We’re just gonna play one more…” before bursting out into hysterical laughter. “Hahaha no we’re just fucking with you! Ahhhh that was fun to say though.” She may have been slightly delirious but at least she was having fun.

Forgiven/Forgotten from all the way back to 2014’s Burn Your Fire For No Witness was a nice rocking addition. While All Mirrors was absolutely immense live with the keys and strings, which at times sounded like an orchestra!

Then to mix it up they played the mellow new tune This Is How It Works, before some more banter about post-pandemic gig. “You guys enjoying live gigs again?! I like this better than filming myself at home. I don’t like that. I have to say this is better.” Amen to that!

Go Home sounded really large with a bit of extra rolling keys and louder percussion, with huge sweeping strings coming in. After a bit of a beer break, where Olsen requested some beverages for herself and her hard working band (who seemed unsure about the ginger beer), she pulled off a little Aussie slang, and apologised again for the break, “we’re just setting ourselves up for this song, cos it's 25 mins long,” she commented wryly. While it might not be that long, they launched into an epic rendition of Sister. The second half lumbers along, building steadily, with some soaring lead guitar sounding like The War On Drugs, and the vocals reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac at times, as Olsen belts out “Oh, all my life I thought I’d change!”

New album opener All Of The Good Times is one of the best tracks on the album, and is a super smooth groove, with some fine drumming, and the soulful little horn part was played beautifully on the strings.

For the set closer, Olsen sang the beautiful Chance from All Mirrors – starting off sparse with minimal production, almost nothing but her amazing voice, crooning very much like a retro chanteuse, highlighting the range and control of her voice. It was a gorgeous finale. But despite the generous set, the crowd were not ready to let her go as there was a huge applause. Given how exhausted she must have been, it was kind of her to come back out for an encore. The guitar tech took over on guitar, to free Angel up to focus on singing, performing a brilliant cover of Badfinger’s oft-covered classic Without You (The Air Supply version a particular fave). The song is incredibly well suited to her voice, and Angel made it her own. After that it was almost hard to imagine anyone doing it better.

And with that, they bid us goodnight, off to lie down in their warm, soft beds. If that was Angel and band suffering from lack of sleep, then it’s scary to think how formidable they would be at full strength. It was an impressive show nonetheless from a really special talent of our generation.

ALFRED GORMAN

Photos by Linda Dunjey, feature photo by Sophie Minissale