Track-by-Track: Olivia Reid Sizes Up Her New EP ‘Space to Roam’

There is a calming presence to Olivia Reid’s new EP Space to Roam. And to a large extent, it is all by design. The six-song record, released last month, is a return to the more acoustic, stripped-down approach that Reid used earlier in her career. It is a departure from the electronic production that has been a key feature of her other releases. On Space to Roam, there is a deliberate focus on organic textures that have produced a folk-natured writing project, inspired by nature.

It is some of Reid’s most intimate songwriting to date, predominantly written during Reid’s time spent in the Polish countryside. Travelling with just an acoustic guitar, she wrote many of these songs on her own outdoors, surrounded by the elements. Reid intended Space to Roam to be an invitation to listeners to slow down, reflect, and tap into the physical and mental capacity to explore and just be. The songs are meant to represent the calmness that can be unearthed through living a simple life. She sees a lot of value in such a life, given the many frustrations of modern society.

Today, Olivia Reid joins us for a Track-by-Track rundown of Space to Roam, sharing with us the story behind each song.

“Space to Roam encapsulates the sensation of finding the physical and mental space to just be. I wanted to write music that would lower my heart rate, that would calm my mind and bring me back to earth a little bit. I wrote these songs because I needed them and needed to hear them. And I didn’t want to overthink them or over edit them. They are just simple, soft songs for the soul.”

1. “Space to Roam”

“My generation in the U.S. has grown up with the realization that we may never afford a house, have the opportunity to own land, or even be able to afford extended time away from work to live a slower pace of life let alone retire one day. But while staying in the Polish countryside, surrounded by a family who had built their own dream life, I felt like I caught a glimpse of what that quality of life could be. I wrote ‘Space to Roam’ to also acknowledge the sense of melancholy I felt about the future, but also to hold on to that hope, and imagine that future for myself.

“This song does romanticize a simple life, which was the experience during my time in Burdag, Poland. Many of the things I describe in the song like the ‘two pups to look out for us’ are representative of the dogs that lived on the property, and the story of Studio Burdag, owned by a family of artists that built a creative space and a dance hall for their daughter.”

2. “Love Don’t Leave”

“‘Love Don’t Leave’ is a song about the little elements of connection that feel so simple, yet make love feel deep and pure. That purity and depth of connection is the very thing that makes the hard times in life sting less. Towards the end of the song, the lyric ‘My love I hope you know, no matter where I go, I will be right home’ communicates that even if love does physically leave, there’s a security in knowing you will always be right back by their side. Whether it’s romantic or based in friendship or family, that pure kind of love isn’t going anywhere. It’s real and raw and true.

“The first audience to hear this song was sitting around the campfire in Burdag, with neighbours from nearby farms gathered around the fire. I was asked to play some songs on the guitar and though not everyone spoke English, the song still resonated with them. If you listen closely at the end of the song, there is a voice memo clip and you can hear them saying, ‘Could you write the song down?” and asking me to play ‘another one please.’”

Olivia Reid ‘Space to Roam’ EP album artwork

3. “All in Time”

“I wrote this song about the winter when I was struggling to let myself feel calm in the darker winter months of the year. It’s a reminder that life comes in natural ebbs and flows, and that down time is natural. It’s an extension of the theme from my other song, ‘Quite Simple’ really, a different side of the coin to remember there are times in life where it’s ok to move slow.

“I grew up spending several weeks of the year in Montana at my grandparents’ house, in the snow, realizing that there’s a time for things to be blanketed in cold and come back alive again in the spring. Many of the songs on this project were written in Poland, but this one I wrote later that season, back in New York when I got together with my friend Tim Atlas in his Brooklyn studio. It was a cold and rainy time, and I was struggling with that sensation of being still after travelling and moving so much. That sparked the ethos of this song.

“The production really built from the initial guitar riff that I played on an acoustic and we wanted the track to settle into a great ‘walking’ style rhythm, a steady movement forward. Sonically we added a ‘steps in snow’ sample of someone’s footsteps in the snow, and ambient voice memos from my trip to Poland that I had labeled ‘Poland forest.’ It was all to really create this winter wonderland of calm, creating a world where sun coming through the trees and hitting the snow, reflecting this angelic atmosphere of calm.

“While working on the mix of the song, I was dealing with the loss of two of my grandparents and heard the song in a new light. Dealing with loss I realized the lyrics I had written had new meaning; ‘it’s habitual, it’s natural, it’s not to fear no not to fight, mythical, spiritual, all in time dear all in time.’ I had written a message of patience to myself. But while dealing with grief, it felt like a new reminder to not fear loss, but understand it as a natural, mythical part of life and to realize how precious time is without fearing the passage of it.”

4. “Quite Simple”

“I’ve always had this feeling like I’m running out of time to experience life. And this song is a reminder that I’m not. I wrote this story to echo some of the most positive perspectives I’ve heard from the older generation and try to share that with my generation. In old age, it seems there’s so much to look back on fondly and so many experiences that you don’t even know are ahead of you. I wanted to write a song that gives people my age that same optimism. We’ve got time. ‘When nobody’s gonna come for you,’ you’re safe to explore, and ‘everything comes with time.’ I wanted to write a soothing reminder that even when life seems complicated, ‘it’s really quite simple.’”

5. “Serene”

“‘Serene’ is a song capturing my endless longing for sunlight. In the lyrics, I personify the sun as a feminine entity called ‘Serene.’ I beg ‘Serene’ to stay and characterize her power as one to ‘burn my skin while you cure my disease.’ I wrote it outside on the porch in Poland, sitting in the sun. And it was a bit ironic because my skin is the most prone to a sunburn you can possibly be, and I think I got a slight sunburn while writing it, yet the sunlight has such a positive impact on my mental health. The song tackles that balance.”

6. “Steady”

“This final song on the project explores what it means to keep our minds ‘steady’ in a tumultuous world. In the lyrics, I describe seeking a sense of steadiness akin to a ‘deadbolt on the door’ to ‘mountain in the snow’ to the ‘moon beyond the clouds.’ I originally wrote the song with just bass notes on the guitar, playing them in this very steady pace and using that as inspiration for lyrics that felt similar. The song the seas get rough, I wanted to ‘hold the sails, steady for my soul.”

“The final production was a collaboration with So Wylie, who co-produced a song called ‘Nightmare Machine’ on my last EP. We wanted to depart from the guitar-focused production and instead capture this diverse and dynamic range of change in life, while trying to stay steady and moving forward. The vocal layering and the way that we pick up the pace in some sections really helped to manifest that emotional arc. It also felt like the perfect song to end the project on, something that opens the door for new sonic explorations in whatever I make next.”