Oakland’s electronic dream pop power trio There’s Talk just dropped a cover of Angel Olsen’s “Unfucktheworld,” and let’s be clear—this track pulls you into its expansive, meditative void.
The engine of this machine is Olivia Lee—multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and the band’s core. The story goes that she first tackled this song during the grim, isolated dawn of Covid, a time of pure disenfranchisement. That primal feeling is the bloody heart of this recording. Her voice is vulnerable, yeah, but there’s a fierce strength holding it all together, a proof of weathering the storm.
But this isn’t a solo mission. This is a trio, a unified front. Young Lee lays down the foundational guitar work that’s less about flashy riffage and more about crafting a majestic, nostalgic shoegaze landscape—the kind of sound that wraps around you like a thick fog. Then there’s Kellen Balla, the architect of the track’s cinematic, propulsive backbone. They started this thing in a proper studio, shelved it, then resurrected it in Olivia’s home studio, trading ideas and layering textures like master builders.
The final mix, handled by Beau Sorenson, is dreamlike but complex, warm but sharp-edged. This track is about the growth that comes from over a decade of playing together, about channelling personal grief (Olivia’s history, from losing her mother to channelling that into meditative synth loops, is key here) into something towering and triumphant.
“Unfucktheworld” by There’s Talk is a reclamation. It insists on hope, not through a whisper, but through a magnificent, exploding assault of sound.