Presented by Spirit of 68 Amy O, Free Cake For Every Creature, Nice Try
Elastic.
A commonplace word, one you encounter everyday, but it has some powerful and complex meanings. It’s a fabric you’re probably wearing right now, but Bloomington, Indiana, singer-songwriter Amy Oelsner knows it’s also a state of being: flexible, stretchable, expandable, contorting itself but always snapping back to its original shape.
Elastic is also the title of her exuberant new album as Amy O, and she did not choose that word lightly. In fact, you might say it chose her. “It hit me that this is the concept of the album. That word perfectly captures it for me. This is an album about how I’ve been able to grow and heal, how I’ve had to adapt to new and sometimes difficult circumstances. That to me is elasticity.”
That word similarly describes the sound Amy O makes with her band: tightly coiled indie-pop music indebted to Sleater-Kinney and the Roches, Helium and Laura Nyro, defined by unruly guitars, excitable vocals, rambunctious performances, and supremely hyperactive hooks. Elastic snaps and pops exuberantly, zigzagging constantly, its joy infectious and its craft undeniable. You might try to put the title track or “History Walking” or even the slower “Sunday Meal” on in the background, but every song pushes to the foreground and demands to be heard.
It’s either her second album or her ninth, depending on how you count, which means Amy O is both a new artist and a veteran. Growing up in Fayetteville, Arkansas, she taught herself to play guitar and write songs, eventually recording a series of lo-fi albums as she moved around the country for college and work. She released them independently, with little regard for sales or promotions. The endeavor was more about her own experience: the thrill and the discipline of making art. “Songwriting became a way for me to process things and make sense of my life. I got hooked on it emotionally.”