First of all, don’t confuse this Marc Olsen with the ex-Jayhawk of similar appellation. While both gentlemen are very talented singer-songwriters, their professional likeness ends right about there. This Marc Olsen used to play guitar with the pseudo-psychedelic, prog-rocking Sky Cries Mary and subsequently became a key member of another Northwest trio called Sage. On Tunnel Songs, Olsen makes his debut as a solo artist and displays a stark, acoustic foray that is both distinctive and compelling. Following a blueprint that is even more barren than his work with fellow Seattle bard Gerald Collier, Olsen performs all by his lonesome except for the occasional violin work by Anne Marie Ruljancich and Jared Selter’s bass playing on one song.
Olsen is an accomplished musician whose careful embellishments on dobro, organ and pedal steel lend depth and color to his fundamental voice and guitar. Half-whispering his dry, devoted lyrics, Olsen proceeds with an instrumental style that embraces warped Spanish guitar figures and the arcane pickings of an old Celtic folkie. While not fully approximating the sustained tension of Nick Drake or an early Richard Thompson, Olsen does manage to evoke a plaintive, keening persona. His songwriting courts a dark, hovering shadow and wanders through a sad, lurid terrain. The hushed immediacy of songs such as “She’s Leaving Tomorrow” benefit greatly from Olsen’s stripped-down approach. His junkie warning/lament “Half Closed Eyes” expresses a desperate resignation that has become only too familiar in the Pacific Northwest.
While barely more than a half-hour in length, Tunnel Songs exudes a quiet depth and merits close inspection. One thing about a tunnel is that there is usually some light at the end.
