Angel Olsen Unveils ‘Alive and Dying (Waving, Smiling)’

Angel Olsen Unveils “Alive and Dying (Waving, Smiling)”

 Song of the Lark and Other Far Memories Box Set Out May 7th on Jagjaguwar

Includes All Mirrors, Whole New Mess, Far Memory Bonus LP and 40-Page Book Collection

Today, Angel Olsen unveils “Alive and Dying (Waving, Smiling),” a song from her forthcoming Song of the Lark and Other Far Memories box set out May 7th on Jagjaguwar. The box set includes All Mirrors and Whole New Mess, plus a bonus LP, titled Far Memory, and a 40-page book collection. Following the previously released “It’s Every Season (Whole New Mess),” “Alive and Dying (Waving, Smiling)” is a striking, orchestral version of Whole New Mess’s “Waving, Smiling,” recorded during the All Mirrors session. Olsen’s swelling voice is perfectly complemented by Jherek Bischoff’s emotional string arrangement, featuring an 11-piece orchestra.

Olsen elaborates: “This song is all about chapters closing, and learning to let go of things I can’t understand. It’s very me – I will always nosedive into love, and suffering can definitely come with that. When I hear this version the strings really bring the song to its necessary bittersweet boiling point.”

Watch Angel Olsen’s “Alive and Dying (Waving, Smiling)” Visualizer

Originally conceived as a double album,  All Mirrors and Whole New Mess were distinct parts of a larger whole. Each expressed something bigger and bolder than Olsen had ever made, and on the Song of the Lark and Other Far Memories, they come together as a full extent of the songs’ iterations: all the alternate takes, b-sides, remixes and reimaginings are presented in one collection. Its accompanying 40-page book tells a similar story, not just through outtakes,  unseen photos and the smaller, evocative details: handwritten lyrics, a favorite necklace, a beaded chandelier.

Released in 2019, All Mirrors is massive in scope and sound, dramatic in an Old Hollywood manner as it traces Olsen’s ascent to a place of true self-acceptance. Recorded before All Mirrors but released after, 2020’s Whole New Mess is Olsen in her classic style: stark solo performances, echoes and open spaces, her voice both whispered and enormous.  All Mirrors and Whole New Mess presented the two glorious extremes of an artist who, in these songs, became new by embracing herself entirely.

In first speaking about Song of the Lark and Other Far Memories, Olsen said, “It feels like part of my writing has come back from the past, and another part of it was waiting to exist.” If Whole New Mess holds the truths of Olsen’s enduring self, and All Mirrors documents her ascent toward a new future, Song of the Lark and Other Far Memories is a timeless, definitive collection, of these songs, their revelations and their writer, from their simplest origins to their mightiest realizations.

Song of the Lark and Other Far Memories is limited to 3,000 physical pieces. To celebrate the announcement, Olsen filmed an unboxing video to show the scope of the package.

Watch/Listen to “It’s Every Season (Whole New Mess)” Via the Visualizer

Watch the Song of the Lark and Other Far Memories Unboxing Video

Pre-order Song of the Lark and Other Far Memories

Far Memory Bonus LP Tracklist:

1. All Mirrors (Johnny Jewel Remix)
2. New Love Cassette (Mark Ronson Remix)
3. More Than This
4. Smaller
5. It’s Every Season (Whole New Mess)
6. Alive and Dying (Waving, Smiling)

All Mirrors Tracklist:

1. Lark
2. All Mirrors
3. Too Easy
4. New Love Cassette
5. Spring
6. What It Is
7. Impasse
8. Tonight
9. Summer
10. Endgame
11. Chance

Whole New Mess Tracklist

1. Whole New Mess
2. Too Easy (Bigger Than Us)
3. (New Love) Cassette
4. (We Are All Mirrors)
5. (Summer Song)
6. Waving, Smiling
7. Tonight (Without You)
8. Lark Song
9. Impasse (Workin’ For The Name)
10. Chance (Forever Love)
11. What It Is (What It Is)

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