Angel Olsen - MY WOMAN
Critic Score
Based on 39 reviews
2016 Ratings: #15 / 1004
Year End Rank: #9
User Score
2016 Rank: #39
Liked by 198 people
Sign In to rate and review

CRITIC REVIEWS

100
The Observer

Here she sounds more assured, even in her darker moments, and her strong, versatile voice is as extraordinary as ever.

100
The Young Folks

There’s more hope than mere heartbreak. Angel Olsen skillfully balances the album between her bullish lyrics and heart-pounding riffs in a way that makes the album feel short and sweet partially due to its breezy, 60’s Southern California flair.

100
The Skinny
The voice – that pure, craggy vibrato – is bold and beautiful, and on her fourth and (by some distance) best album, it finds the showcase it needs and deserves.
91
A.V. Club

My Woman is one of the realest albums of the year.

91
Consequence of Sound

My Woman oozes unhurried glamour and moments of sweeping grandeur. Olsen shifts between genres with graceful precision, breaking down the limiting (and, sometimes, sexist) critiques that have dogged her career.

90
Uncut

Her ambitious third record marks another giant progression in an already distinguished career, and offers provocative thoughts on sacrifice and identity that should long outlast its 48-minute runtime.

90
God Is in the TV

It’s ... an immensely varied and almost uncategorisable album of alt-pop music infected with a burgeoning artistry.  It is utterly startling, one of the best records of the year.

90
musicOMH

While her previous album Burn Your Fire For No Witness seemed like a huge step up for her, My Woman seems even more like a statement.

90
PopMatters

Not only are all her greatest idiosyncrasies on flattering display throughout My Woman, but the album offers dozens of new reasons to fall deeply, unreasonably in love with her music.

90
AllMusic

While some tracks will surprise established fans, to say that My Woman is a departure or style swap for Olsen doesn't really take into account the album as a whole. The elements that are new here play out like a means to an end for a songwriter with a tale to tell, one chock-full of raw emotions.

90
FasterLouder

The candidness on My Woman captures what makes Olsen such a compelling artist, making for an album that will stand as a critical release in her illustrious career.

90
Paste

Angel Olsen’s fearless and eloquent embrace of raw emotions in all their messy splendor ultimately feels oddly uplifting, the way it always does when you witness a gifted artist at her best.

90
Spectrum Culture

Always keen to straddle music genres, Olsen continues to blend influences and styles and, in the process, creates a disarming and audacious album that defies categorization.

90
American Songwriter

Individually, all of the songs are strong, self-contained bits of cleverly written and emotionally gripping indie rock ... Olsen has always been a compelling songwriter, but more than ever she showcases a range evident in just how versatile that songwriting is.

90
The Line of Best Fit

Angel Olsen isn’t a chameleon; she’s simply one of the best songwriters we have, who can play any style of music she turns her muse to. MY WOMAN is Olsen at the top of her game - heartfelt, insightful and musically adventurous.

88
Pitchfork

My Woman walks a tightrope of love to figure out what it is—how to find it, how to allow it in, how to feel it, how to fight for it, how to let it go—by a person who does not lose herself in the process.

84
Sputnikmusic

From the surreal, cloudy opening of ‘Intern’ to the wild and noisy guitars that close out ‘Sister,’ MY WOMAN feels like an authentic trip into Angel Olsen’s mind. It may not be perfect - and it’s certainly not all roses - but it’s real.

82
Northern Transmissions

Side-stepping the folk and rock touches of earlier work, it finds the singer’s voice complemented by a deep swell of vintage synths. Her familiar vibrato mixes together elements of malaise, drive, disappointment, and hope.

80
Dork

The perfect example of an artist moving forward, without losing any of the magic that first brought her to our attention.

80
The Sydney Morning Herald

My Woman amounts to Olsen's most ambitious work, its contrast and contradiction fitting no neat narrative.

80
The Needle Drop
Singer-songwriter Angel Olsen drops the solid, expressive record I've been waiting for since I heard her music back in 2012.
80
Q Magazine
These are controlled, tempered, well-steered songs, capable of navigating genres.
80
The Irish Times
With a full band behind her, the US musician’s vision is realised in a superbly ramshackle manner.
80
Crack Magazine

Here, Olsen has fallen back in love with her timbre. She jumps around scales, introduces some gorgeous work in the higher registers, and employs a breathiness in Those Were the Days that transcends flirtatiousness. 

80
Drowned in Sound

In terms of composition and production, MY WOMAN is Olsen’s most ambitious album yet. Taking a more polished — though not straight-up glossy — approach, Olsen sounds more vulnerable for having made her vocals more central to the mix.

80
NOW Magazine
It's a determined album, almost to a fault, and like the romance hinted at in lead single Shut Up Kiss Me, the album is occasionally messy and frequently epic.
80
Mojo
Olsen never gives into indulgence, however, her songs keeping their shape, their direction and their impact to the end.
80
The Guardian
Angel Olsen’s third album is immediately and enormously enjoyable, but also one that might take a long time to fully absorb.
80
Clash

It’s addictive yet confusing, instantaneous yet difficult to fully understand – it continually forces to you to cease arguing, and simply listen.

80
Exclaim!

A fascinating, affecting statement from a musician firmly in control of her artistry.

80
DIY
Despite the uncertain, vague and fast-shifting idealism fuelling many of her lyrics, ‘My Woman’ often shows her at her boldest and most concentrated.
80
Under the Radar

What is consistent is Olsen's musical personality, which feels perfectly at ease and singular, irrespective of producers or genres or other boxes that might try to contain it.

80
No Ripcord

What makes My Woman great isn't the new synths or the rockier tone. It's Olsen herself, filling these songs with the love, desire, anguish and acceptance that comes from her perspective as a woman.

80
NME

As with her previous efforts Olsen’s unique vocal steals the show, but this is the singer opening up all the other parts to her personality. The more we see, the more there is to love.

80
Tiny Mix Tapes

My Woman is a record coated in the sounds of radio’s past, a potpourri of classic rock gestures and doo-wop sway, yet Olsen’s mindset is anything but nostalgic.

75
Pretty Much Amazing

It’s more ambitious than her last one; better too. But I simply don’t think the formulaic songwriting is worthy of praise, nor the very notion of being more ambitious.

70
Loud and Quiet
Olsen’s immense talent hovers under the surface throughout, and of course the vocals are consistently stunning.
70
Slant Magazine

It’s an album steeped in 1960s jangle pop, swirling psychedelia, and other classic influences that further breaks Olsen’s music away from anything that could definitively be called folk rock.

60
Record Collector

My Woman is an odd, somewhat mismatched collection of good and then great songs that could have been more ghostly.

zachthesnack
90

Honestly guys, where has Angel Olsen been all my life??! 🤩😭❣️

BGL13
84

pride month day 18

i absolutely love all mirrors, but for some reason i never got around to listening to any of angels other albums. and man, am i glad to have finally decided to listen to this album. i don’t really have much to say other than the fact that this is beautiful. i just love angel’s voice as well as the production on this. this shit is just so pretty

faves: never be mine, shut up kiss me, give it up, those were the days, pops
least faves: heart shaped face, women

sourcherry24
95

My favorite record of the year. Incredible second half. Fantastic voice. Fucking massive.

notchkninspnish
100

MY WOMAN is a stunning singer-songwriter showcase. Angel flips between the lilt of Motown ("Never Be Mine"), the croon of Dolly ("Sister"), and the wailing immediacy of Siouxsee ("Shut Up Kiss Me") with ease as she incorporates various genres throughout the record. Her powerhouse vocals underscore the turmoil inherent in the lyrical conceit of the album: the inherent struggle to find and maintain your identity in the face of love.

Jtin
85

simply incredible

Siberian
92

This is the quintessential Angel Olsen record and also is the perfect transition between BYFFNW and All Mirrors.

HIGHLIGHTS: INTERN, SHUT UP KISS ME, HEART SHAPED FACE, SISTER, WOMAN

WORST TRACK: THOSE WERE THE DAYS

Purchasing MY WOMAN from Amazon helps support Album of the Year. Or consider a donation?


Added on: June 6, 2016