The offbeat, mesmerising songs on this breakup record are both seductively gorgeous and designed to set your teeth on edgeThe 50 best albums of the yearMore on the best culture of 2019In a year when the concept of self-partnership entered the lexicon thanks to a viral Emma Watson interview, a cache of pop anthems soundtracked the fledgling “single positivity” movement, from Lizzo’s Truth Hurts (“I put the sing in single”) to Selena Gomez’s Lose You to Love Me. Those looking for a more contemplative and perspicacious tribute to solo life may, however, be tempted by the contents of All Mirrors, the mesmerising fourth album by the
American singer-songwriter Angel Olsen.
A breakup record that muses on the nature of relationships without romanticising them, All Mirrors sees Olsen drill down into the damaging power-play of past loves, interrogating how they have made her feel less-than, as well as the self-knowledge and peace their endings have occasioned. On the spellbinding opener Lark, she chronicles the effect of a patronising partner; the sweetly stoned Too Easy covers the stupefaction of early-days infatuation; the tinny, quivering synthpop of New Love Cassette the self-negation that stems from being a one-person support system.