Sufjan Stevens

[Dr.Z]

Surprised to see there isn‘t a Sufjan thread yet! New album „The Ascension“ got released yesterday.


https://youtu.be/2dYi4P0xNkE

I think the album is pretty fantastic. Dark and intense. And long. Don‘t expect any soft guitar and banjo strumming as on Carrie & Lowell. This is almost only synths, drum machines and his voice. The closest stuff in his discography would probably be Planetarium and Christmas Infinity Voyage (Songs for Christmas Vol. 8).

What do you think?

[Jord]

I am currently awaiting the arrival of a CD of this. Carrie & Lowell didn’t do much for me but Wallowa Lake Monster, Tonya Harding & Love Yourself were great after that record so I’ve been anticipating this one. Should get a good listen in as soon as possible.

[thefragile_jake]

It’s unexpected how electronic this ended up being, honestly, and it’s fucking great.

[r_z]

This album is a lot to digest!. After a first listen this sounds great, but won't touch Age of Adz for me.

Still more interesting, sonically, than Carrie & Lowell.

[eachpassingphase]

This album is a lot to digest!. After a first listen this sounds great, but won't touch Age of Adz for me.

Still more interesting, sonically, than Carrie & Lowell.

Age of Adz is my fave, and Carrie and Lowell didn't do much for me despite many of my friends loving it. Like you, this album lands somewhere in the middle so far. I'm really pleased with it. I've got a long drive coming up next weekend so I plan on spending a little more time with The Ascension in the car.

[Jord]

Finally got round to listening to The Ascension after all this time. The CD I ordered of the album never arrived, and I never bothered trying to re order one - I got into Sufjan through my now ex girlfriend, the fallout from the breakup made it very hard to listen to his music recently.

Anyway I bought it this week on iTunes, stuck it on this evening and wow - this record is absolutely magnificent and beautiful, majestic even. Everything I wanted following Tonya Harding. A real headphones record too that sits well after a couple of glasses of wine. What a journey!

[allegate]

I'm so glad I found this thread because I didn't know where else to put this...news?

https://twitter.com/Polygon/status/1442497821408743428

[Dr.Z]

What does everyone think of the new album Javelin that came out last month? Personally I love it and really appreciate that it contains all the different styles in which Sufjan has made music but in a very homogeneous way. I was also surprised how much the arrangements reminded me of the Silver & Gold Christmas albums.

It is already a very emotional album about grief and love, but the bad news of Sufjan‘s personal life makes it hit even harder (his partner died in April, plus he contracted Guillain-Barré syndrome a few months ago and is currently re-learning how to stand and walk). Wishing him all the best after this terrible year.


https://youtu.be/M_I8IGwqva4

[Kodiak33]

What does everyone think of the new album Javelin that came out last month? Personally I love it and really appreciate that it contains all the different styles in which Sufjan has made music but in a very homogeneous way. I was also surprised how much the arrangements reminded me of the Silver & Gold Christmas albums.

It is already a very emotional album about grief and love, but the bad news of Sufjan‘s personal life makes it hit even harder (his partner died in April, plus he contracted Guillain-Barré syndrome a few months ago and is currently re-learning how to stand and walk). Wishing him all the best after this terrible year.


https://youtu.be/M_I8IGwqva4

I need to listen to this, he's had a very very tough year. My wife has a form of GBS and it's fucking awful...so I get it.

[paul_guyet]

What does everyone think of the new album Javelin that came out last month? Personally I love it and really appreciate that it contains all the different styles in which Sufjan has made music but in a very homogeneous way. I was also surprised how much the arrangements reminded me of the Silver & Gold Christmas albums.

It is already a very emotional album about grief and love, but the bad news of Sufjan‘s personal life makes it hit even harder (his partner died in April, plus he contracted Guillain-Barré syndrome a few months ago and is currently re-learning how to stand and walk). Wishing him all the best after this terrible year.


https://youtu.be/M_I8IGwqva4It's no The Ascension, but I need to spend more time with it.

[Jord]

A bit late to the game with this record, I was holding off listening to it but I'm on my first proper listen now. So far it's really good - a brilliant cohesion of his acoustic style with some bombastic electronic elements similar to The Ascension thrown in - I found Carrie & Lowell too minimal and although I liked The Ascension, it was missing that human touch in places. This really strikes the balance. Genuflecting Ghost kinda reminds me of Death With Dignity as it opens.

Absolutely tragic with what Sufjan has been through recently, I thought Carrie & Lowell carried a sad influence with it's themes but with Sufjan losing his partner and being diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, it adds so much weight to these songs. I hope he gets better and looks after himself after all this.

Update - what a record. Bravo Sufjan.