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Oct 12, 2020 By Christopher Roberts Photography by Kylie Coutts Angel Olsen

Angel Olsen released a new album, Whole New Mess, in August via Jagjaguwar. Now she has performed a brand new song on her Instagram account. It is 11 minutes long and called “Time Bandits.” It’s not clear if the song is inspired by Terry Gilliam’s 1980s fantasy film of the same name, although the lyrics don’t seem to reference it. Watch the performance below.

Olsen had this to say about the song on Instagram: “I wrote this after I came home from St. Louis a few weeks ago…against better judgment I’ve decided to put new songs up, it’s a business but it’s my business.”

Stream Whole New Mess here and read our review of the album here.

Whole New Mess 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.

Previously Olsen shared its first single, title track “Whole New Mess,” via a video for it. “Whole New Mess” was one of our Songs of the Week. At the end of July, Olsen performed “Whole New Mess” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Then she shared the album’s second single, “Waving, Smiling,” which was also one of our Songs of the Week. She also shared a video of her performing the song live from Asheville’s Masonic Temple. Then in October, Olsen did a Tiny Desk (Home) Concert for NPR Music, performing four songs remotely.

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 said in a previous 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.”

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.

Olsen also recently teamed up with Emile Mosseri for a cover of Bobby Vinton’s “Mr. Lonely,” from Mosseri’s soundtrack to the new Miranda July film Kajillionaire.

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).

Also read our 2016 interview with Olsen.

View this post on Instagram

I wrote this after I came home from St. Louis a few weeks ago…against better judgement I’ve decided to put new songs up, it’s a business but it’s my business. The feeling takes over at first it’s surprising But then I surrender no longer in hiding I’m having a hard time not falling in love with The heart of a moment the heart of a moment Be here if you’re bein’ the people are seeing Listen if you’re hearing The truth needs no saying It’s in us its with us if you know it, it’s framing The love that you’re holding the dreams that you carry The joke that you’re telling someone to be merry And laugh at it all when you’ve just had enough And dance when you’re crying, get that spirit up I want you I want you I need you right now To be here and lay down and get on the ground And hear it and feel it and know that you’re bound to the earth to each other, and that’s where it’s found The love that we wanted the future we need We can’t do it alone, we have to believe In each other in each other be as thick as thieves But thieves like time bandits with hearts on our sleeves Who fly up from the past and present what is key To surviving the future and reversing the spell That we put on our people that dragged us all into hell I want you I want you I need you right now I want you I want you I need you right now To be here and lay down and get on the ground And hear it and feel it and know that you’re bound to the earth to each other, and that’s where it’s found I want you I need you I need you right now

A post shared by Angel Olsen (@angelolsenmusic) on Oct 11, 2020 at 11:23am PDT

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