The release campaign for ’s fourth record, ‘’, was shrouded in cynicism. Not at the fault of the record, or the band for that matter, but the circumstances that surrounded it. In 2024, frontwoman was diagnosed with a benign ear cyst that would lead to the loss of hearing in one ear. This, ultimately, steered the direction that ‘Forever’ would take.
“There’s been a lot of press about my hearing loss, but what gets overlooked is everyone else in the band. There should be more about what you all bring to the songs,” she says as she motions to fellow bandmates and , “and not musically, helping me and reworking arrangements. We do everything together.” While the after-effects have been devastating, Jackson has approached the situation in a practical way. “I can turn the volume a bit louder on one side,” she notes, before reflecting that “not hearing the punchline of jokes” can be “annoying”.
A surprise to the band, however, is the track that directly addresses Jackson’s diagnosis, ‘Sounds’, which has received the greatest response from fans, observed while playing their in-store dates. “It felt like a bit of a moment, which is a surprise because it’s the darkest song on the album. It’s even darker when it’s surrounded by so much light.”
Jackson’s diagnosis led to the band exploring the concept of eternity, envisioning a future where “everything is okay”. In a , Emily Dickinson laments that “forever – is composed of Nows”. It’s a phrase that rung true for the band. “Time isn’t real, there’s no rules!” they say. “You might have hit a bunch of milestones; maybe you got a degree, married, divorced, or had a child, or maybe you decided to not have a child, you make all these decisions that affect the rest of your life, and then after that it isn’t mapped out – it’s this gaping ‘what happens next?’”.
Another prevailing theme coursing through ‘Forever’ is that “death gives life meaning”. “I don’t want to be too jolly,” Jackson says, “because everything’s in a bit of state at the moment; everything’s going wrong everywhere. But I think you can find the silver lining, you can make a difference locally and with the people you can reach, with whatever small bit of power you have.” Jackson adds that ‘You Remind Me That I’m Dying (and that it’s good to be alive)’ is one of her favourite songs on the album. “It’s morbid but it’s the momentum I like, it gives your life meaning. Death gives meaning to your life, and I mean that in the best way.”
Jackson ponders on family life, observing her children growing and changing is a reminder that life goes on. Collectively, the band appreciate that there’s a limit on the time we have on this earthly plane. They don’t, however, like prescribing set narratives to songs: they know the feelings they’re aiming to portray and the stories they’re addressing, and they aim to give fans a space to connect to the tracks in their own way. “You should take whatever the hell you like from music. You don’t want someone telling you what it’s about because it limits your own translation.”
“If I say ‘oh this song is about my breakfast’, but someone thought it was about life and death, and I tell them it’s just about eggs, it ruins it,” Jackson says of the importance of collective rapture.
The band call their bond with their devoted fans a “two-sided relationship”. In the intimacy of an in-store acoustic performance, fans are often sardined between aisles of CDs, or filtered through odd layouts. “We want to make sure people are comfortable and can see, or that people can sit down if they want to.” A challenge arises when translating unplugged performances onto bigger stages. Ford – who usually plays drums – “learned keys for a lot of the songs”, adding the process is “good for the brain”. “It can be a bit funny transitioning from [that environment], in terms of what you’re playing, or remembering what to do.”
But this isn’t the only obstacle with live shows, especially when faced with a growing discography. “It gets quite messy at this stage because we’ve got four albums – how the do we choose?”. The only outcome is thoughtful setlist curation which bridges past eras with the new. “We love them all, but we’re thinking about playing some really old ones on our upcoming tour. You want to play what you want, but you also want to play what people have been asking to hear.” “It’s song maths,” Nathann adds, “it’s actually weirdly hard to figure this out.”
Another live performance of late came on . “It was actually our fourth time. For the fifth you get a special silver mug, so fingers crossed!” they joke. “It was quite surreal,” Jackson adds, “sitting next to Debbie McGee and Billy Bailey and drinking beer with them. McGee is really cool, very kind and sweet, but she’s also an absolute boss who brings her own lip gloss to set.”
Turning back to ‘Forever’ and the future, The Big Moon are busy getting things lined up for next year. “It’s early days still, but it’ll be nice finishing the year knowing what’s coming up”. The band offer up a final summary on their current era: “It’s fun, comforting, but wonky.”
via Fiction Records.