Angel Olsen’s favourite Nick Drake song: “It’s like a tiny ovation”
Angel Olsen has endeared herself to countless young women with her indie folk tales of love and loss. From the heartbreaking simplicity of the breakup song ‘Unfucktheworld’ to the romantic ‘Shut Up Kiss Me’, she pairs defiantly vulnerable lyrics with soft and swirling strums. Given the sound she’s honed, it’s perhaps unsurprising to learn that she’s a firm fan of Nick Drake.
Decades before Olsen was even born, Drake forged a catalogue full of emotional folk. He put out three records before he died by suicide in 1974. Since then, he’s amassed mammoth acclaim for his music that he, unfortunately, never got to see. Amongst his fans is Olsen.
The ‘Some Things Cosmic’ singer shared her admiration for Drake during a conversation with The Line of Best Fit, beginning, “I love Nick Drake. I’ve been thinking about him a lot and thinking about his story and his mother’s story.” The song she picked out as her favourite was the titular and opening track from his 1972 album, Pink Moon.
Like much of Drake’s discography, the song excels in its simplicity. It opens with a singular acoustic guitar, which strums indecisively as Drake sings of the song’s namesake. “I saw it written, and I saw it say,” he declares, “a pink moon is on its way, and none of you stand so tall, pink moon gonna get you all”. It’s gorgeous in its instrumentation and in its imagery, so it’s easy to see why Olsen picked it out as a favourite.
The song barely strays away from that gorgeous simplicity. Rather than widening its scope, it only focuses on its subject matter, as Drake repeats the words, “Pink, pink, pink, pink, pink moon.” Only occasional bouts of joyous piano accompany his strums, honing a sonic beauty and comfort akin to the rose-coloured orb they surround. It focuses on a feeling, too, a sense of ease and calm, which few others have been able to contain in the song.
Olsen seemed particularly enthusiastic about those piano moments, adding, “I love that piano part in ‘Pink Moon’, and how spaced it is, it’s like a tiny ovation.” It’s a perfect description of the hope contained in those keys, an essential element of the song’s beauty. It only adds to the quiet serenity of the track.
It makes sense that Olsen admires this song in particular, as it reflects the sweet simplicity of her own work. ‘Unfucktheworld’, for example, found an unexpectedly mammoth audience for distilling the messiness of break-ups and lost love into two minutes of fuzzy beauty. It pairs soft strums with simple, focused lyrics, not unlike the Drake track.
It’s easy to see how Olsen has been inspired by Drake’s songwriting, and particularly by ‘Pink Moon’, in the serenity of her own songwriting. Revisit the track below.