Sufjan Stevens/Angelo De Augustine: A Beginner's Mind (gold vinyl) [ASTHMATIC KITTY]

Why you'll love it

This gold vinyl LP comes with a custom inner sleeve and a download code. A Beginner's Mind scored 81 on Metacritic, a mark of universal acclaim, with "Reach Out" and "Olympus" leading the way.

This edition

• Gold vinyl
• Custom inner sleeve
• Download card included

About the album

Two songwriters, one cabin in upstate New York and a stack of films. Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine holed up together and watched a movie every day, then wrote a song loosely inspired by each one, which turns out to be a lovely way to make a record.

They did everything themselves: writing, playing, recording, arranging, mixing and producing, swapping between guitar, piano, Wurlitzer, ukulele, bells and drums. Their voices blend so closely it's often hard to tell who's singing, and the arrangements stay gentle and handmade, closer to a late-night conversation than a studio production. "Reach Out" opens the record with soft-focus warmth and a gently rising melody, "Olympus" climbs toward something mythic, "Lady Macbeth in Chains" and "Back to Oz" wear their cinema influences lightly, and "Lacrimae" closes in a hush. Daniel Anum Jasper painted the cover, and Josh Bonati cut the lacquers.

AllMusic called it intelligent and well crafted, a record for fans of either songwriter's recent work. We'd recommend playing it alongside the films that inspired it, though we'll admit the shop's movie budget hasn't quite caught up yet.

Also at Kops: more Sufjan Stevens on vinyl · browse Singer-Songwriter

Tracklist

Listen

On Asthmatic Kitty (cat# AKR143), the 2021 album.