Description
This collection of B-sides, demos, and covers is terrific and revelatory in its own right. It’s a trail of dropped clues to the creative process of the defiantly mercurial Olsen.
Sequencing tracks out of the chronology of their recording, the album nevertheless forms its own arc—a trajectory between daring and solace, a protagonist learning what it means to risk love.
‘Phases’ is a gentle but solid thing, a quiet record that speaks loudly and encompasses the past 80 years of music, from the 1930s Americana of the Carter Family and 1950s doo-wop through to 1960s Laurel Canyon singer-songwriterism, 1970s outlaw country and early 2000s anti-folk. A beautiful and intimate record.
