To be honest, not much happens in the music video for Angel Olsen’s “Sister.” She wanders around Los Angeles for a bit, heads to Joshua Tree National Park, there’s a close-up shot of her face, and she gets out of a pool. But I watched the entire nine-minute video, because good god Lemon, that song.
It’s also worth noting that Angel co-directed the video for the song, along with Conor Hagen, which makes it the second video from this album that she’s been the primary visual force behind. Maybe a deep dive into daily life was exactly the point of the clip, after all.
Olsen released her first full-length album, Half Way Home, in 2012, but it wasn’t until two years later, with Burn Your Fire for No Witness, that she really came into her own. The album is arresting, stark, and deceptively magnified; Olsen’s voice trembles, but there’s a power lurking within.
You can hear the progression of her sound in “Sister,” the latest single from her new album, My Woman, which comes out September 2. With the music video, Olsen wanted to show “opposing dualities. The contrast between a wide shot and a close-up, the duality between the city and that natural world, joy and melancholy.” Olsen is both, and that’s what makes her so special.
Last thing before I sleep #die. FUCK IT, make something REAL or die trying. Even in this linear thinking world.
— Angel Olsen (@AngelOlsen) July 8, 2016
