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Burn Your Fire for No Witness
Joint Society Review
American singer-songwriter Angel Olsen was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1987. She has since moved around, vacating to Chicago, Illinois two years after graduating high school and subsequently settling down in Ashville, North Carolina. But no matter the geographical specificities, Olsen is permanently nestled in one all-encompassing place: her sprawling, cavernous mind. In her second studio album, Burn Your Fire for No Witness, she offers to bring you along with her, scrambling for clarity as she claws her way through the thick undergrowth of her subconscious.
Regarding society feedback, responses were mostly positive, with 63% of people stating that they would definitely listen to the album again. Only a quarter (25%) of people would not revisit the LP, and the final 12% were undecided on the prospect of a future listen.
A particular highlight of the album is Olsen’s vocals, described as ‘super distinct and powerful’ in a way where ‘you can really feel the weight of her pain through her vocal performances.’ Introspective, blazing, and emotionally charged, Burn Your Fire for No Witness is an album that seeps into the cracks of the psyche and lingers in uncomfortable profundity. One response stated, ‘before listening, I knew nothing about Angel. By the end of the record, I felt I had a long, deep conversation with her and got to know her a lot better.’
Some responses mentioned the solemnity of the album, a factor which split opinions somewhat. A few people found this off-putting, whereas others enjoyed the rawness of emotion, posing that the idea of the album being ‘too sad’ is ‘not a valid critique in music unless it’s overly produced trauma, which this is not.’ The lyrics were described to be ‘intriguingly sad’, pairing well with the ‘melancholy dream-like vibe.’
It was noted that ‘tracks on the album have a distinct yet subtle way of building to beautiful chaos by the end’, in such a way where even those who weren’t as keen on the full LP enjoyed the ‘few songs where the beat was built up throughout to a decent climax.’ Tracks such as Lights Out and Stars were emphasised in this respect, with one responded stating, ‘I wouldn’t have been able to guess how they were going to end.’ Others disagreed, viewing Lights Out instead as ‘repetitive’ and ‘a bit of a drag’, contrasting with praise of ‘how the instrumentals weave together with the vocals.’
Stand-out track White Fire was commended for its ‘very stripped back instrumentals’ that were ‘still so engaging’. The lyrics were described as ‘so depressing yet comforting’, and the length of the track was also discussed: ‘Long (over 6 minutes) songs either drag out for too long or truly earn their run time, and White Fire is definitely the latter.’
Other tracks divided opinions more, namely the opener Unfucktheworld, which was one respondent’s favourite track due to the ‘amazing’ harmonies and ‘full’ sound despite there being ‘only guitar in the background.’ In contrast to this, another society member named it to be their least favourite song on the LP, due to the ‘creepy repetition of the same line’. The closing track, Windows, also garnered differing viewpoints, with one society member praising it as a ‘great closer’ and another stating that it had a ‘weak ending’. The track, which featured in the final episode of Netlfix show Thirteen Reasons Why (season one), finds Olsen using ‘dark vs light’ imagery. This has been interpreted in relation to depression, with the darkness representing the illness, and the light being the ‘way out’. Olsen repeatedly asks, ‘what’s so wrong with the light?’; she persists, desperate and pained, straining to pull another from the depths of despair.
The album was recommended by one of our brilliant society members, Mia, who is an avid Angel Olsen fan. Contextualising the LP in terms of Olsen’s discography, she said, ‘I love how she builds on her previous releases, levelling up the production and branching into different sounds.’ Mia points to Olsen’s ‘soothing vocals’ which are ‘accompanied by a full band, mixing both faster-paced and alt-rock tunes with softer, more romantic songs to create a cohesive album, taking you on a journey of love, loss and self-discovery.’
