STACK #143 Sept 2016

NEWS MUSIC

FELIX RIEBL INTERVIEW

TOURING Meredith Music Festival: 09/12

A modern day, gritty Leslie Gore: that’s the vibe Angel Olsen’s lead single Shut Up Kiss Me gives off. The singer-songwriter toured with Will Oldham when she was just 23, preferred listening to The Everly Brothers and Skeeter Davis in her youth, and has been steadily impressing critics and musos worldwide over INTERVIEW ANGEL OLSEN

TOURING 07/09 - 11/09

sparse, trembling, weirdly analeptic cousin to The Bangles’ Manic Monday . It's a great first entry in the filodex of fascinating sounds across My Woman – the very Neil Young guitar line in Heart Shaped Face , the secret bongos on Not Gonna Kill You , and the sweet grace notes on an electric Rhodes piano on Those Were The Days . “I was challenging myself, with a different instrument [piano], and a different sound. How could my writing

Q1/ Your time with The Cat Empire must have been occasionally manic. Did you adapt to it as it went on, or were you always looking for the calm pockets which you've found in this album? Touring for me is about finding quiet moments of beauty amongst chaos, excess, joy, frustration, claustrophobia, exhaustion. Ever since I was young I've been searching for that feeling. When there was a crowded party I wanted to be there, but when I was, I'd go into a quiet room and lie under a table or something and feel happy there. It was lovely to know that peace was possible, but only because that chaos was present. It's true that tours with The Cat Empire can be utterly manic, but still I find those tranquil moments can happen on stage, in music, or seeing something different wandering around some nowhere place. Q2/ What are the lyrics in that main, beautiful chorus hook on Crocodile ? The chorus repeats the line “Timor Leste.” That's the real name of the country, not ‘East Timor’. Australia is the only country that calls it East Timor; maybe it's an attempt to assume a sort of dominance, because we steal oil from them and spy on them. I travelled there a few years back with my girlfriend Eloise to visit some artists there, and wrote a song about my experiences. Q3/ How did you cross paths with the marvellous Martha Wainwright? Martha was one of the first friends I made when I lived in New York in 2009. I've spent quite a bit of time with her husband Brad, a bass player, and their beautiful kids over the years. It was great to have her sing on In Your Arms . She's got a kind of lion's smile when she sings, her voice is very soulful and distinct, and she has a wry sense of humour in her words and performance that's always resonated with me. I think those qualities suit that song a lot; it's full of word play.

still be meaningful to me? Would my voice change, and so what if it does? Maybe it’s supposed to cater to the sound, and be a part of the sound in a bigger way.” She and her new band then learned the songs and just walked straight into the studio to record live. “To me it’s like a photograph of the way we’ve all developed and grown as musicians, after knowing each other and developing that language on stage with each other,” she says. “This

the last six years. Olsen’s new album My Woman does invoke a feminist lens – but it’s not her precise mission. “Sometimes I think I’m making a statement and there’s a lot of intention behind that statement,” the ebullient musician explains. “But then... yes, I am addressing some feminist argument or ideas, but as a whole, I would hope that [ My Woman ] relates beyond feminism and it can be relatable to all kinds of people – men and women, people all

My Woman by Angel Olsen is out September 2 via Jagjaguwar/ Inertia.

record is, in a way, partly a live performance.” Olsen is slated to play Meredith Music Festival in December – make sure you get on to My Woman before seeing her in the ‘Sup.

over the place. That to me is really important.” Opener Intern contains the line “I don’t care what the papers say / It’s just another intern with a resume” – and somehow seems the

FACTOID: Angel Olsen wore a gaudy glitter wig in the Shut Up Kiss Me clip because she didn't have a hair stylist.

THE PRETTY LITTLES

TOURING 22/10 - 19/11

S hoosh you dolts, Sam’s Mob was not a PR stunt – the truth is, Jack Parsons and

to just leave it on the album, then all that sh-t happened,” he says. “F-ck, what can you do? There’s some dark stuff going on.” Behind their beaming, lo-fi guitars and slushy hi-hats, The Pretty Littles’ excellent new record Soft Rock For The Anxious has

his band of merry dudes have always cared. Written long before Newman’s latest feeble performance, Parsons says the track was a reaction to the Adam Goodes debacle of 15 months ago – but the message was (again) pertinent in June this year. “We were going

For the full interview visit stack.net.au

so much genuine heart; sometimes it creeps up on you, as in the chorus to the gorgeous Pride , and sometimes it’s on the boys’ sleeves.

Soft Rock For The Anxious by The Pretty Littles is out independently on September 2.

Paper Doors by Felix Riebl is out September 2 via Kobalt.

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