Less than a year removed from her latest album, Big Time, Angel Olsen has more new music on the way. The artist will release an EP of four songs from the same Jonathan Wilson-produced sessions titled Forever Means, with the track “Nothing’s Free” debuting today (March 7). Forever Means is out on April 14 through Jagjaguwar.
Of the song, Olsen says, “It felt really difficult to exclude it from Big Time, but it felt more soulful than the direction of that record. It was coming from a different place. For me, when I wrote it, I was coming to terms with my identity and sexuality. I was opening up in a new way.”
Olsen found herself pondering the concept of “forever” while wandering around on tour: “I was thinking ʻWhat does forever really mean? What are the things Iʼm seeking in friendship or love, and how can forever be attainable if weʼre always changing?ʼ Maybe the secret to ongoing love is to embrace change as part of love itself.”
Big Time chronicled a traumatic period for Olsen that included the death of both of her parents as well as issues involving her health and sexuality. “I don’t feel grateful that shitty things happened all in a row, but I’ve had a really pure, eye-opening, approach to my music and the audience and what I do for the first time in years,” she told SPIN in December. “There’s nothing to fear anymore. Just connect with people and be good to yourself. So much of my career has been traveling and not enjoying it and really trying to work my ass off for some nomination. I’m finally at a point where I can do this for me.”
As for what might be coming next after Forever Means, she says, “I’m working on something now that I’m probably just going to self-release or release under my label, maybe. That’s the hope. I don’t want to make something that’s heavily produced every time. And I want to have more opportunities to do that without risking everything and having to do every single thing to keep up with the current. I just want to make something without everybody having their hand in it. I want to take risks and be weird and have the opportunity to do that. I loved talking about Big Time, even if it was hard because that record was really meaningful to me. It was just crazy that I even went into the studio that early after everything that happened.”
Olsen is currently on tour in Australia and has a handful of live dates scheduled through early September.
