Indie-rock singer + songwriter Angel Olsen has partnered with American indie-rock musician Sharon Van Etten on a harrowing yet painstakingly beautiful new single “Like I Used To.”
Both singer + songwriters have been momentous influences of our generation. They find comfort in compulsive imagery and language that ever-so-delicately drips from their lips. On the chorus, each plays up to their own forte while depicting a descending melody line that powerful.
Produced by John Congleton, “Like I Used To” hosts a haunting descending melody line in the chorus while each singer compliments each other.
They both sing, “Change address and draw a line // Show my friends the silver line // Call my family just to know they’re there // Sleeping in late like I used to // Crossing my fingers like I used to // Waiting inside like I used to // Avoiding big crowds like I used to.” //
Olsen declared in a press release on working with Etten, “I’ve met with Sharon here and there throughout the years and have always felt too shy to ask her what she’s been up to or working on, but in 2020 she approached me to work on a song together. Summer went by and we kept talking, going back and forth on a verse or two – it was the first time I really wrote something with someone like this. The song reminded me immediately of getting back to where I started, before music was expected of me, or much was expected of me, a time that remains pure and real in my heart and important for me to remember and check in with as I go forward in this life.”
The release of the single was coupled with the release of a music video directed by Kimberly Stuckwisch and filmed in both Los Angeles and Joshua Tree.
Earlier this year, Etten dropped epic Ten, an album of pure cover songs and contemporary take of her 2010 album Epic, and Olsen dropped the boxset Song Of The Lark And Other Far Memories composed of her works All Mirrors and Whole New Mess.
Keep up with Angel Olsen: INSTAGRAM // TWITTER // YOUTUBE
Keep up with Sharon Van Etten: INSTAGRAM // TWITTER // YOUTUBE
