Sufjan Stevens: Carrie & Lowell [ASTHMATIC KITTY]

Why you'll love it

Carrie & Lowell is widely considered Sufjan's masterpiece, and it topped plenty of critics' lists for 2015. Just voice, guitar, piano and the occasional hush of synth: "Should Have Known Better," "Death with Dignity" and "Fourth of July" will stop you in your tracks.

This edition

• Asthmatic Kitty pressing (cat# AKR099)
• Original 11-song album with the family-snapshot cover

About the album

After the orchestral maximalism of Illinois and the electronic sprawl of The Age of Adz, Sufjan Stevens went small. Very small. Carrie & Lowell is a hushed, mostly acoustic record about his mother Carrie, who left when he was a toddler, and his stepfather Lowell, who later helped him start the Asthmatic Kitty label, and it's about as close to a diary as a record can get.

The songs walk through memory, grief and forgiveness with a gentleness that's almost unbearable at times: "Should Have Known Better" turns a heartbreaking memory into a moment of hope, "Fourth of July" might be the saddest lullaby ever written, and "John My Beloved" barely rises above a whisper. It's the kind of record people press into each other's hands. Consider this us pressing it into yours.

Also at Kops: more Sufjan Stevens on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Asthmatic Kitty (cat# AKR099), first out in 2015.