Angel Olsen explores a gamut of emotions on My Woman, the singer-songwriter’s breakout album - one which simply teems with stirring vocals, atmospheric backdrops, and era-transcendent soulfulness.

“I dare you to understand,” Angel Olsen belts to the heavens above on My Woman, “what makes me a woman.” The singer-songwriter effectively lays out those characteristics in narrative and sonic form throughout her breakthrough record.

Ranked among the “Best Albums of 2016” by Pitchfork, NPR, NME, Mojo, Rolling Stone, the Guardian, and other respected outlets, My Woman is an emotionally bracing exploration of identity, love, and hope seen through the lens of one of the leading voices of her generation.

Sourced from the original masters, mastered by engineer Krieg Wunderlich (and assisted by Neal Harris), housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, and strictly limited to 2,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab’s 10th anniversary 180g 33RPM LP reissue presents My Woman in audiophile-grade sound for the first time.

Olsen’s transfixing singing and gorgeous tones can now be heard with striking clarity and openness. The quiet surfaces and groove definition of the vinyl, carefully pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, also greatly improve upon the quality afforded by prior editions.

Primarily recorded live at Vox Studios in Los Angeles, My Woman gets the treatment it deserves. That extends to aspects such as instrumental separation, natural presence, and discernible imaging — all of which enhance the expansive beauty of Olsen’s work. Her songs teem with atmosphere and detail.

Her voice communicates with words but just as much, if not more so, with nuance. Olsen shivers, shakes, trills, aches, stammers, moans, pouts, murmurs, pleads, whispers, all expressive devices that come across here with richness, texture, and immediacy. Her backing band, too, paints with a mix of suggestiveness and directness that emerges with newfound focus and stability.

Side A:
1. Intern
2. Never Be Mine
3. Shut Up Kiss Me
4. Give It Up
5. Not Gonna Kill You
6. Heart Shaped Face

Side B:
7. Sister
8. Those Were the Days
9. Woman
10. Pops

Simply put, I think this album is fantastic. It has a stylistic range and Angel is using her voice (which is superb) in ways she hasn’t before. Sister, Those Were The Days, Woman, and Pops are my own personal favorites. My only complaint would be that the lyrics of Never Be Mine and Not Gonna Kill You are a little repetitive, but that’s only because I like songs like that develop rather than repeat verses.

It is still probably my favorite of her work overall, in truth. She really shows how dynamic her range is on this album and it actually sounds like an evolved form of her previous work with welcome additions. I was scared that I over played Shut Up Kiss Me before the album came out but it still hasn’t been burnt out for me yet ten years on!

I mean, I think all us music connoisseurs can agree that this is some of the best music of my/our generation without a doubt. All the tracks on here are solid. This is something I would show my children or grandchildren. The album is truly an endearing classic. It has everything: witty lyrics, amazing vocals, and interesting instrumentals. Every track transports you to a certain place.

I guess most fascinating to me was the fact that Those Were the Days starts out sounding like a Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac mood instrumental. I kinda dug that back then and still do. Another tune also reminds me of an Elastica tune, which is unexpected, but in a kind of interesting way. Very good lyrics which reveal more and more with repeated listens, especially over the past decade that we have all been through.

Reissued in Audiophile-Grade Sound in Celebration of Its 10th Anniversary: Strictly Limited to 2,000 Numbered Copies, Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 33RPM LP Plays with Striking Detail, Richness, and Definition.

24-bit / 96kHz digital master to analog console to lathe.

Official Purchase Link

www.angelolsen.com

Angel Olsen @ Facebook

Angel Olsen @ YouTube