Amy Oelsner’s homemade pop songs sparkle with these eternal truths: that story-telling is part of being alive, and excavating the past is part of growth. Oelsner, who records as Amy O, is a lifer of the indie-pop underground. Her songs brim with poetic granular details of everyday life. Oelsner’s sound has expanded since she first started recording solo in 2004; it now features her husband Justin Vollmar on drums/backing vocals, Damion Schiralli on guitar, Jack Andrews on bass, Yuki Kawana on synth and backing vocals and occasionally her Brenda’s Friend bandmate Erin Tobey on backing vocals. But the driving force remains Oelsner and her songwriting. That's evidenced on her album Elastic (released August 2017 via Winspear Records), where she waxes poetic on pain and loss while still managing to sound upbeat. That word, elastic, similarly describes the sound Amy O makes with her band: tightly coiled indie-pop music indebted to Sleater-Kinney and the Roches, defined by unruly guitars, excitable vocals, and supremely hyperactive hooks. Oelsner’s music snaps and pops exuberantly, its joy infectious and its craft undeniable. 

Following Elastic, her 3rd studio album Shell also stretches with melodies upon melodies. But here there is greater use of space, pace, and patience. Perfectly minimal riffs slowly build, ebb, erupt and recoil; guitars and keys layer and swell; intricate drums and pristine criss-crossing vocal melodies. On Shell, Oelsner deals in the outer and inner boundaries of self. She grapples with mortality, physical transiency and vulnerability, the concept of home.

On her latest, Mirror, Reflect, Amy O returns to form as she documents her transition into motherhood in the early days of the pandemic. Initially conceived as a lo-fi endeavor to record songs made with friends in those days of uncertainty, Mirror, Reflect is an intimate and exploratory work that weaves collected home and field recordings with shimmering synths and Oelsner’s playful lyricism.

Growing up in Fayetteville, Arkansas, she taught herself to play guitar and write songs, eventually recording a series of lo-fi albums as she moved around the country for college and work. She released them independently, with little regard for sales or promotions. The endeavor was more about her own experience: the thrill and the discipline of making art. “Songwriting became a way for me to process things and make sense of my life. I got hooked on it emotionally.”

She didn’t realize it at the time, but it was a good grounding for her career as well as her craft. In the mid 2010s, she moved to Bloomington, Indiana to follow love and work at Rhino’s Youth Center, which offered after-school programs to teenagers. In addition to acting as Assistant Director, Amy O led the Zine Writing Program, which encouraged adolescents to share their own stories and engage with the public in creative ways. As Oelsner’s career has developed, she has continued to delve deeper into her work as an educator and arts organizer. In 2019, she founded Girls Rock Bloomington, a music and mentorship nonprofit for girls, trans and non-binary youth that teaches positive self-esteem and self-expression through an annual rock n’ roll summer camp as well as year-round events and programming. For Oelsner, music is a way of connecting with herself, her personal history and her community. The positive impact that creative expression has had on her life has inspired her to empower others, particularly those who have been marginalized, in finding and sharing their unique voice with the world.

Amy is honored to be the recipient of the 2020 Indiana Governor’s Arts Emerging Artist Award, as well as the 2025 Emerging Leader Award from the City of Bloomington Commission on the Status of Women.

Booking Inquiries: amy.oelsner@gmail.com