Angelic Voice

If Angel Olsen is indie rock's newest "it" girl, she remains unaware.

She doesn't have access to the Internet right now, as she's preparing for several weeks away from home during a cross-country tour.

If she were reading, she'd see plenty. Pitchfork recently called her voice "enchanting." The U.K. paper The Guardian called her sophomore effort, "Burn Your Fire For No Witness," an album "that hypnotizes as it unfurls." Spin magazine effused praise too, saying the album "is the musical equivalent of a deep, questioning stare from a lover, and what draws me to her voice is its peaceful, subtle touch. It has me leaning in to listen."

At the end of her last tour -- in support of her first album, "Half Way Home" -- fans were singing her songs back to her during concerts. The strangeness of it struck her: What's her role onstage if everyone is going to sing louder than she does?

"I can't imagine what it was like for the Beatles," Olsen says by phone.

In addition to all of the positive press related to her new album, she launched a massive international tour on Tuesday, the same day "Burn Your Fire" was released in the United States. The tour will include a showcase at South By Southwest and a stop at the Lightbulb Club in Fayetteville. Joining her for the Sunday night show in Northwest Arkansas will be Irish songwriter Cian Nugent and locals Sw/mm/ng, who also have a showcase at SxSW in March.

Olsen, a St. Louis native, moved to Chicago as she pursued music. She joined Will Oldham -- a.k.a Bonnie Prince Billy -- as a backing vocalist for two albums while simultaneously starting her solo career. Where "Half Way Home" was sparse and delicate, "Burn Your Fire" is a degree more raucous and robust.

The band rose up from the music, Olsen says. Her newest songs sounded like those a full band might make, so drummer Josh Jaeger and bassist Stewart Bronaugh joined her early last year.

Olsen wrote the entire album, although her band functions as a way to test her ideas.

"We'll try to play a song differently, just to see what happens," she says.

All of her songs, with or without a backing band, fall into the confessional indie folk realm. Many of them tell stories, ones Olsen brings to life onstage.

"I feel like I am portraying different characters in a movie," she says.

Meanwhile, she remains unaware just how many people are investing time in that product.

"I hope people will relate to it," she says. "(The songs) are very full of thought."

Just as the recent reviews -- the ones she hasn't read -- have been full of praise.