INTERVIEW: Al Olender Deserves Pleasure, And She’s Singing About It

On the heels of a summer of breathless touring, the folk songwriter Al Olender is looking forward to winter. It’s when she’ll put on the second annual Alentine’s Day, a show “taking back” February 14th in honor of her personal Valentine: Kingston, New York. Olender moved to the small town about 100 miles north of New York City six years ago, and recorded her first album, Easy Crier, at The Church in upstate New York. Released in the spring of 2022, that record marries grief for her brother, lamentation for the pandemic’s TV-ridden days, and the ecstacy that can be found in what’s sour.