When Sultan + Shepard began sculpting how their Something, Everything—one of Dancing Astronaut‘s Top Albums of 2021—successor was going to look and feel, they did so with the belief in mind that regardless of where they were—both “sonically and physically”—an overflowing sense of ingenuity was attached at the hip. And so, Forever, Now was born, with Sultan + Shepard sending off the previous calendar with the revelation that their junior LP would be waiting for everyone with open arms the new year. Just over two months into 2023 and that day has arrived, with Forever, Now landing in full via none other than the duo’s longtime label, This Never Happened.
Forever, Now was grounded on Sultan + Shepard’s real-time expression of the world inching out of the pandemic darkness. Gigs began reappearing on their schedule and “it felt like the great thawing of pent-up feelings and emotions were being released” through them, with the album being a “culmination of all the emotions [they’ve] felt and lived since then: all of the shows, long studio days, listening parties, sincere messages, weird ideas, late night phone calls, moments where [they] questioned ourselves, and moments where [they] felt great.” What better way to capture those raw sentiments up than through what they’d been doing as a tandem for the previous decade and a half.
In the two or so months in between announcement and delivery, Forever, Now spawned a quartet of singles that commenced alongside Tishmal on “Losing Ground,” followed by “Making Time” with Julia Church, “Neptune,” and their “Winter 2022 Mixtape” ID-turned-album preview, “Zima” with Delhia De France. On release day—dated February 17—Forever, Now‘s tracklist grows from four to 11. While the album had still yet to be experienced in front-to-back form, a majority of its 11 cuts may have been previously familiar to some in recent months after Lane 8 scattered six different album tracks across his respective respective fall and winter greetings from 2022, including the album’s lead and concluding singles, its calming opener “Sirens,” “Concorde,” “RnR”—the fan-favorite, long-awaited “Fall 2022 Mixtape” intro ID—and last but not least, the “Winter 2022 Mixtape” finale ID that fittingly doubles as Forever, Now‘s eponymous number. And there’s still a flurry of never-before-heard album additions once the mixtape IDs are formally identified, including “Elenore” with Andrew Belle, “You Already Know” with Benjamin Roustaing, and another unaccompanied production, “Maybe I Was.”
Forever, Now sees Sultan + Shepard’s innovative rush become wholly realized. It’s an uncompromising musical image of their authentic experiences that continues to advance the both blissful and triumphant melodic house form that they’ve seeped further into ever since Kochi, their initial This Never Happened launch in early 2020. The album glides at an incremental pace from sheer serenity at “Sirens” towards sheer elation once its title track is reached, actualizing the unreserved emotions that came to the surface during its creation and enabling Sultan + Shepard to “just be [themselves] in each moment,” effortlessly bottling up what they felt could only be described as “timeless.” Almost two years to the day later, Stream Sultan + Shepard have a masterpiece of an answer to Something, Everything and it can be streamed below.
Featured image: Bryan Gonzalez
