The women who inspired Angel Olsen: “I love listening to her”

Posted On October 17, 2024October 17, 2024

There is a common misconception that creative inspiration is a straight line. People think that A inspired B, B inspired C, and so on, but that’s not the case. While The Beatles were a big part of the music we listened to and hugely changed the musical landscape, genres like rock and pop would still exist today if they were never around; they would just exist in a different form.

Creative inspiration is not a straight line but a load of cogs, all connected and persistently turning. One cog might be attached to four or five, while others are only connected to one. Some are bigger than others, as some are currently small and in their infancy, whereas others are huge and responsible for a larger part of the mechanism. Removing certain cogs will have a specific impact, but the machine keeps working regardless.

Angel Olsen is a perfect example of this. The singer-songwriter who embeds narrative, intricate guitar playing, and gorgeous vocals into her work represents those who inspire her. She is not the direct result of any one particular musician; instead, she takes from those she has heard throughout her life and uses them as inspiration when writing her own unique material.

The female artists she’s a fan of are clearly a big influence on Olsen. When you listen to who she listens to and understand how they have impacted her on a creative and personal level, it begins to resonate within her work. People like Mildred Bailey, Alice Coltrane, and Nina Simone are present in every song that she has released.

One of the Alice Coltrane tracks that speaks to Olsen is ‘Journey In Satchidananda’. “I listen to this song when I take baths,” she said, discussing the track, “Sometimes you just need a good bath, you need to force yourself to slow down and light some candles and really go all out and play some good music and just sit with your thoughts. I love listening to her for that.”

She also spoke about Nina Simone and how her spoken introduction at the beginning of the track ‘Black Is The Colour (Of My True Love’s Hair)’ resonates with her on a performative level. “I have to remember that people have yelled that out to me so often at shows,” she said, “Like, ‘Alright, we don’t want to hear the whole story Angel, we just came for the music!”

Olsen also confessed that Ida Prest was a big influence because of how well she could shred when playing the guitar. While the guitar tone might be a stretch from what Olsen does, the energy and passion embedded into every note translates.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever play guitar like Ida Presti and I’m OK with that, but watching someone put everything – every ounce of their soul, their whole body, channel every muscle and every breadth – into their instrument is so incredible to watch,” she said, “And to know that you could do that feels miraculous in a way, to be able to do that with the body and the person you are.” 

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