Stick Season (Forever)

Revealed in a Twitter post minutes after the release of Stick Season (Forever), Kahan stated:

I am excited and kind of sad to be releasing Forever, alongside these two dream collaborations with Brandi Carlile and Gregory Alan Isakov.

Firstly, I’m grateful and beyond proud to be sharing these two songs with artists that have soundtracked my entire life. Gregory and Brandi have written songs that have carried me through pain, loneliness, dramatic life changes, and the entirety of my career. I am so honored to have them on this final re-release. Forever is a long time. This album cycle has felt like forever, and I’ve loved every second of it. I have loved living in this world. I have never felt more comfortable in my own skin, more proud of what l was representing in my songwriting and more vindicated by the response to a record that was really an extension of my soul. When I sat down to write Forever with Gabe Simon, I didn’t know I would be sealing off the album with it. I thought it might just be a nice standalone single, but as l listened to the story I realized I was writing about perspective. The idea that a place can remain the exact same physically but becomes totally different as our lives and our experiences change. The word “forever” used to terrify me. I hate finality, there is too much uncertainty and boredom affiliated with “the rest of time.” Now though, I’ve found forever to mean there is limitless possibility. There is so much joy in the world, waiting to be found. That is something that Stick Season has shown me, that this year has shown me. Sometimes it just takes a change in perspective.

I hope you enjoy these songs, I hope they continue to find you in the times you most need them, like they did for me. I do not know what is next, but I’m glad I get forever to find it.

• German Translation*