Oakland trio There’s Talk released their cover of Angel Olsen’s “Unfucktheworld” on December 12th. The band consists of multi-instrumentalist Olivia Lee on vocals, synths, and production, Kellen Balla on production, programming, and vocals, and Young Lee on guitar and vocals. Olivia started learning the song during the beginning of COVID while feeling disenfranchised and isolated.
What began as a simple piano-and-vocal recording with Ian Pellicci at Brothers (Chinese) Recording got shelved for a bit as the band members moved around California. Months later, they revisited it at Olivia’s home studio, exchanged ideas, layered sounds and textures, and finalized the recording in Los Angeles. Beau Sorenson mixed the track. The band’s been working together for over 10 years, and Young Lee says the time and distance apart over the last few years has translated into learning how to create more sonic space in their songs.
Their take on the song features reverb-soaked guitars and swirling, warm synth pads that evoke the sensation of wind breezing past your face. Those ethereal textures accompany an exceptionally intimate vocal performance. Naturally, those textures provide ample space for the vocals to breathe and add significant weight to the emotional core of the song. In contrast with the original, which was a simple stripped-down acoustic performance. This version feels bigger but not outside of the inner confines of the mind as it toils with those thoughts of isolation.
There’s Talk has been building a sound that pulls from electronic dream pop and shoegaze since their debut EP Tiny Strands, touring with acts like Glass Animals, Baths, and Cigarettes After Sex. Their work draws from Olivia’s childhood love of electronic synthesizers, her Chinese heritage, and queer identity. This cover shows how much ground they’ve covered since then, taking a raw emotional song and expanding it without losing what made it work in the first place.
