Hear Angel Olsen & Sharon Van Etten (Feat. Michael Imperioli) Cover WWII-Era Standards For A Small Light
Right now, Disney+ is running A Small Light, a new National Geographic dramatic series about the life of Anne Frank. Este Haim serves as an executive producer for the show’s soundtrack, and she’s brought in many of her peers to cover songs from the World War II era. Every week, along with episodes of the show, we get two more songs. Last week, it was Danielle Haim singing Doris Day’s “Till We Meet Again” and Kamasi Washington covering Charlie Parker’s “Cheryl.” Today, it’s contributions from prestige-TV veterans Angel Olsen and Sharon Van Etten, both singing songs written in 1938.
Angel Olsen’s song is Larry Clinton’s “My Reverie,” which was based on a Debussy piece. Clinton’s band and singer Bea Wain recorded the original version of “My Reverie,” and the song was also a hit for artists like Bing Crosby, Mildred Bailey, and Glenn Miller. Olsen’s version is soft and spare, with some unearthly slide guitar from the Last Shadow Puppets’ Zach Dawes.
Sharon Van Etten, meanwhile, has contributed a soft country-pop version of “I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire,” which was a hit for artists like the Ink Spots and Horace Heidt. Van Etten’s take on the song has a reverby spoken-word verse from Michael Imperioli, star of The Sopranos and The White Lotus. He’s an occasional indie rocker who leads a band called Zopa and who wrote a novel about Lou Reed.
Este Haim produced both of these songs, and James Ford mixed them. The full A Small Light soundtrack is out 5/23.