2023-04-20 07:00:13
Forever Means gathers four leftover songs from the sessions Big Timeilluminated “in search of something else“ but once more a new side to Angel Olsen.
Compositionally almost inconspicuous at first glance, aesthetically and stylistically but immediately noticeable. Once once more appealing to other facets of the 36-year-old’s changeable sound, it is above all the opening, secretly overwhelmingly beautiful Nothing’s Free („a song regarding that point when self-denial breaks, and you notice how long you’ve been restraining who you are“), which opens up fascinating perspectives – with its dreamlike jazz flair, in which nostalgia caresses gently in melancholy via careful piano drops and warm saxophone ambience, like a reveling visit that seems to have been fondly remembered forever Father John Misty.
closer to Big Time (but without adopting his country-leaning staging) row the following two numbers – the ghostly breathy title track ballad as an followingtaste Chasing the Sunas well as Time Bandits as the song’s smooth-flowing dream-pop cousin Big Time – in this respect, however, to a certain extent left behind and leave the jazz option (unfortunately – or at least for the time being) still open.
Holding On as the crispest and most direct number, it also releases in an unobtrusively rumbling mood of optimism a bit more rocking than the previous numbers along its great arrangements, which moodily hint at the psychedelic oriental strings in a vintage atmosphere, also hanging in the air a bit, the arc of suspense takes an otherwise emphasized quiet and subtle EP but here of all places felt a run-up.
A conscious decision, as Olsen declares, not only with regard to the closer (“Holding on is rare in my music, not meant for singing, more for getting lost in“), but which explains the level of content of the timelessly elegant EP with the intentionally uncertain look into the future, which can change at any time: “I was somewhere traveling, stopped for a few days and wandering the city, and I was thinking ‘what does ‚forever‘ really mean? What are the things I’m seeking in friendship or love, and how can ‘forever’ be attainable if we’re always changing? Maybe the secret to ongoing love is to embrace change as part of love itself, that forever must have something to do with playing, looking, constantly searching things out for yourself, never letting yourself think you’re finished learning or exploring. Forever remains curious while trying also to be kind and honest.”
similar posts
Print article
1682120066
#Angel #Olsen #Means