To be alone with you sufjan serial#

There's the Sufjan Stevens who uses symphonic instruments and records Christmas albums this is the Sufjan behind his breakout album, 2005's Illinois.

Sufjan Stevens is an artist with three distinct sounds. It's one of the quietest albums Stevens has ever made, but it's also one of the hardest to listen to Carrie & Lowell is an expression of Stevens' grief, but it's also a realignment with what made him beloved and great to begin with. It approaches slowly and takes over a life piece by piece until every thought and feeling and action is weighted with the heaviness of something greater and unprocessed.īut sometimes it takes tragedy to remind us who we are. It's fragile and all-encompassing and quiet. (Mike Flokis/Getty) Because it is deeply personal, this album is his most relatable Sufjan Stevens performs in concert in 2008. 'Should I tear my eyes out now,' he sings, 'everything I see turns to you somehow.' Stevens sings about contemplating suicide, cutting his arms, and finding himself so alone that he didn't care if he survived. It felt unsolvable.'Īs beautiful as moments on this album are, there's deep darkness in Carrie & Lowell. I was trying to gather as much as I could of her, in my mind, my memory, my recollections, but I have nothing. In a gut-flipping, heartbreakingly honest interview with Pitchfork, Stevens explained, 'Her death was so devastating to me because of the vacancy within me. She spent her life battling depression and alcoholism. Stevens grew up with his father after Carrie left their family when he was just a year old. Stevens' mother, Carrie, died of stomach cancer in 2012. With careful finger-plucking and breathy vocals, it's a song as delicate and fragile as Stevens' relationship with his mother seems to have been.Īs beautiful as moments on this album are, there's deep darkness 'I forgive you mother / I can hear you / and I love to be near you / but every road leads to an end,' Stevens sings. It's a song about forgiveness and accepting the death of his mother, placed at the beginning of an album that evaluates just how hard it is to reach that acceptance. The opening song 'Death With Dignity' is the end of the story of Stevens' pain. And grieving is what this album is really about. Personal angst is fiery, but it's not universal. It's a plot that - though Stevens presents it with nuance and beauty on songs like Seven Swans' 'To Be Alone With You' and 'A Little Lost' - isn't completely relatable. His albums historically have focused on dejected men suffering through personal battles and trying to find themselves.

To be alone with you sufjan serial#

He made characters with epic flaws, such as the serial killer John Wayne Gacy Jr., into human beings worthy of concern. Stevens has always been a deeply empathetic songwriter. Carrie & Lowell is an attempt to learn to grieve Stevens' mother, Carrie, died in 2012, and this album is both a tribute to her and an honest exploration of what it means to be almost 40 and finding yourself buried in grief.

On Carrie & Lowell - his seventh studio album, due out Tuesday, March 31 - the story he's telling comes from two years of intense pain and loss.