STACK September 2016 Issue 143

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07
NEWS MUSIC
S hoosh you dolts, Sam’s
Mob was not a PR stunt –
the truth is, Jack Parsons and
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
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
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.
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
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
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.
Amodern 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
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
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
INTERVIEW
ANGEL OLSEN
THE PRETTY LITTLES
My Woman
by Angel
Olsen is out
September 2
via Jagjaguwar/
Inertia.
FACTOID: Angel Olsen wore a gaudy glitter wig in the Shut Up Kiss Me clip because she didn't have a hair stylist.
Soft Rock For
The Anxious by
The Pretty Littles is
out independently on
September 2.
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.
FELIX RIEBL
INTERVIEW
Paper Doors by Felix Riebl
is out September 2 via Kobalt.
For the full interview visit
TOURING
07/09 - 11/09
TOURING
Meredith Music
Festival: 09/12
TOURING
22/10 - 19/11