This summer, singer-songwriter fave Kathleen Edwards returns with her first new album in eight years. Total Freedom is out August 14th via Dualtone Records, was produced by Jim Bryson and Ian Fitchuk, and will be Edwards’ fifth album. The lead single “Options Open” is reflective of the journey she’s taken since Voyageur — during which she took a sabbatical from making music and opened a coffee shop in Stittsville, Ottawa, called Quitters.

As Edwards says:

“I had no desire to write, no desire to play. It allowed me all the time and space I needed to even just enjoy listening to music again. There were so many times where, if I was thinking about my own writing or playing, my heart just wasn’t in it. I don’t want to write songs that are going to keep me in a dark place for two years. I didn’t have to carry a lot of the pressure of whatever course I was on previously…There’s a pressure sometimes to keep that ball rolling, and that’s what was so freeing about stopping altogether and starting again. I realized I’m entirely in control and deciding what my course of action is.”

The song is a rousing, rootsy rocker, the sort that Edwards has always excelled in, from “I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory” to “Back to Me” to “6 O’Clock News.” As the guitars ring and the rhythm pounds, Edwards’ pristine voice declares the outlook that has sustained her over a decade-and-a-half career: “for 39 years I’ve been keeping my options open.”

Listen to “Options Open” below, check out the track list to Total Freedom and pre-order the album here.

Total Freedom track list
1. Glenfern
2. Hard On Everyone
3. Birds On A Feeder
4. Simple Math
5. Options Open
6. Feelings Fade
7. Fools Ride
8. Ashes to Ashes
9. Who Rescued Who
10. Take It With You