An Unusual Mixture: Fact and Fiction

Many artists, especially in indie-rock, are straight to the point with their music, often discussing pressing issues within their own lives in their music. Sufjan Stevens is not like most artists, doing that and then some.

Stevens, who started out in the music biz in the mid 1990’s in a band by the name of Marzuki, quickly rose to stardom, rather, as a solo artist in the late 1990’s with his signing with Asthmatic Kitty Records. Since his signing, he has re-invented indie-rock as everyone knew it, with different styles that captured the hearts of many, including myself.

From albums such as Michigan and Illinois, where he sings about the locations, history, and lows/highs of the Midwestern states, Seven Swans, in which he displays the influence religion has on his music, to Age of Adz, where he switches things up by trading in acoustics for capricious electronics, the 39 year-old is unparalleled in the art of mixing reality with fiction.

“My imagination can be a problem, I’m prone to making my life, my family, and the world around me complicit in my cosmic fable, and often it’s not fair to manipulate the hard facts of life into a vision quest. But it’s all an attempt to extract meaning, and ultimately that’s what I’m in pursuit of, like: What’s the significance of these experiences?” said the artist in an interview with Pitchfork.

Set to release his seventh studio album Carrie and Lowell, named after his mother and stepfather, he intends to continue his mixing of reality and fiction. Only rather than delve too far into biblical allusions and/or Greek mythology, the singer/songwriter looks apply a more fundamental style of music, using only an acoustic guitar or piano, and his lucid voice.

The subject matter of this album revolves around the death of his mother in 2012, which suggests that much of the album will have a nostalgic tone, depressed tone. The album, according to the artist, will delve into the confusing relationship he had with his mother, while also remembering the good times he spent with his mother and stepfather in the summers of his adolescence.

The first single to be released from the highly anticipated album, No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross, which was released on the 16th of February, is already a good indication that this album may be one of his best yet. Upon listening to the song, a sensation rushed through me, as if I was once again hearing him sing for the first time.

I highly suggest listening to Sufjan Stevens; even if his style of music isn’t necessarily “your thing”, his lyrics and acoustics and electronics will be enough to make you reconsider.

 

Update: Pitchfork gives “Carrie and Lowell” a 9.3/10, making it a top contender for Album of the Year