When Angel Olsen returned to St. Louis in September of last year for a mega-packed concert at Off Broadway she was treated like royalty. Born and raised locally, the event was both a homecoming celebrating a local gal who had made it on her terms and a party that cemented her arrival as a prolific artist whose career was looking skyward.
Olsen’s adolescence was fairly mild until a musical awakening sparked a creative energy that found her going to shows, discovering new sounds, and writing and recording her own material. Determined to make her voice heard, a brash young Olsen honed her live chops by busking in front of Vintage Vinyl, an experience that helped her shake away any reservations about performing live in front of an audience.
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At the age of 20, Olsen left town for the greener musical pastures of Chicago, where she spent seven years gigging and making music before settling down to her current home in Asheville, North Carolina. In between, she released a prodigious amount of music, starting with the EP, “Strange Cacti,” followed by the more urbane “Half Way Home,” before settling down with a full band for 2014’s Burn Your Fire for No Witness, an album that saw her maturation process expand into new terrain.
In 2016, Olsen shifted her gears into overdrive, with the critically lauded My Woman, a record that found Olsen coming of age as a singer and songwriter.
The success of that album, along with her dynamic stage presence, secured Olsen a sweet gig at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, and more recently as the opener for the Western swing of the Arcade Fire’s current American tour.
On November 10 , fans thirsty for more new songs will get a tasty appetizer as they eagerly await a new full length with Phases, a collection of Olsen’s B-sides, rarities and demo recordings culled from her career.
Olsen and her band are performing next Wednesday night at The Pageant. Taking time out from preparing for the tour, she discussed her career and shared her thoughts about making music in St. Louis.
When did decide what type of musician you wanted to be?
When I was in high school, I went from being really preppie and going to a private school to going to, after some things happened at home that made me feel really isolated, taking refuge in going to shows at the Creepy Crawl and The Pageant and following STL Punk and stuff like that. I just flipped, and started playing music. I joined a jam band. I felt inspired by the music that was out at the time. Eventually, I started to listen to indie music. At the time. I didn’t understand the culture of it, but I was trying to. I listened to Belle & Sebastian, Yo La Tengo, and Low, and that was an opening to where I knew that music could be different from pop music. I liked how there was something really intimate in the fact some of things aren’t perfect. That led me to quit the jam band, and try to make my own music, and write my own songs. That was when I realized I wanted who spent time writing. I didn’t want to be just singing and dancing, because that was only half of it.
How does it feel to come home and play a bigger venue?
I’m excited to revisit St. Louis. I haven’t gone back in awhile, and it will be really cool to be around family and play in a different venue. In the past I’ve always played at Off Broadway, I love it there. But it will be nice to play a different place. I know The Pageant is huge, and I’m looking forward to changing it up and playing there
Do you enjoy touring?
I am very excited to get back into touring, because I have just played two weeks on the festival circuit, and I got really good at playing the 45-50 minute set. I’m really looking forward to going to a show where people want to be there to see us, they are part of why the show is happening. I have not been specifically thinking of all the touring I have left; I’ve been home with my cat. I think about it in sections, where I’m at work on production and sending emails to promote it. Another thing I do is not look at dates beforehand. I want to be present when I’m somewhere. At this level, touring with this size of band, it’s cool to scale it back and do shows that are more intimate. I think some that is going to be really refreshing after going so hard at these big production events.
What are your thoughts on your playing larger venues and festivals like Glastonbury?
Stuff like Glastonbury can be really overwhelming, but I’ve learned to just have fun with it. Playing these large shows doesn’t intimidate me, because I feel the bigger the crowd is the less pressure you have because you know they are not really paying attention. At a smaller show, when everyone is paying attention and it is just you, I think that is way more intense, and there is more pressure, because people are just so attentive that you don’t really want to ruin it.
You have made your own videos and films. Can you talk about the filmic element to your work?
I have always felt like when I am writing songs, I am thinking about them in cinematic ways and I have images that come up with stuff. Even though it is in my head and in my imagination, it becomes a part of the writing. It took me along time to realize I could use that.
What did you take away from your experiences as a musician here?
It is very hard to encapsulate that time. But I feel like, for me, I wanted to get out of St. Louis because I felt there was a lack of a music scene there. But what I realize now, looking back, is that there was a music scene and, because it was not all in one central place, it was spread out across the city and county. So kids would make more of an effort, even in these tiny pockets in the community, to go to shows and they valued it in a different way, because artists were afraid to come there or they wouldn’t book shows there. And when they did, it was really special. It makes me remember other towns like that and to not ignore them. Even if you play a town and it’s weird, you make the best of it, because some of those people don’t get to go to shows very often. That is something I feel I have taken away from the industry there.
Did you think busking outside of Vintage Vinyl helped shape your career?
I feel like having confidence and putting yourself out there is part of it, so that was helpful in that way. I was a different person, I was a tiny person then; I wasn’t an aware human. But at the same time I really, really wanted to be the cool chick playing music. I wanted my life to be a John Cusack movie.
Angel Olsen performs at The Pageant on Wednesday, October 4 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20-$22.50. The Pageant is located at 6161 Delmar. For more information visit thepageant.com.
