Burn Your Fire For No Witness

Angel Olsen’s dejected tales and shrill voice did most of the heavy lifting on her 2012 debut, Half Way Home, with only acoustic guitars and light percussion filling the gaps. It was raw and emotionally lucid, recalling the strong and guileless women who paved the way through folk and country music in the ’60s, but lacking the dynamic punch to help drive home her thoughts. On Burn Your Fire For No Witness, Olsen brings in a proper band (bassist/guitarist Stewart Bronaugh and drummer Joshua Jaeger), which gives her vocals something to snake around. Actually, it sounds as if her emotions and words are pushing her voice where it goes. From the opening line, “I feel so lonesome I could cry,” from the album’s country-tinged highlight “Hi-Five,” Olsen sounds in the moment and emotionally exhausted. “Forgiven/Forgotten” is equally wrenching, with fuzzed strums and a bouncy tempo helping to lighten the mood. Toward the end of Burn Your Fire, Olsen dips into the sparse folk of her debut (“Dance Slow Decades” and “Enemy”). Needless to say, it loses a little steam. I know—the subject matter is weepy. That doesn’t mean it always has to sound that way.