Jagjaguwar US Vinilo y CD

Review: Last year saw Angel Olsen break through with her highly acclaimed third album 'My Woman'. To follow that success comes 'Phases', a raw and intimate collection of demos, B-sides and rarities recorded over the last seven years. Compared to her previous studio albums, these demos are more stripped back - giving a little more room to showcase Olsen's powerful and broad vocals, which here err more on the side of vulnerability than the grungy confidence to be found on 'My Woman'. Considering this is essentially an album of unused tracks, the sheer quality and weight of these haunting and wry offcuts is nothing if not impressive, and in their chronological arrangement provide a guided tour of Angel Olsen's development so far.