Sufjan Stevens - "Carrie & Lowell" (2015)

When I was young and more often part of the night life, when the awaiting night was an adventure with an unknown end, when the feeling of freedom permeated life and led the way forward, then Sufjan Stevens latest album wouldn't have been played on the pre-party. Then you wanted to hear fast-paced, energetic music that gave the spirits momentum. Carrie & Lowell would not have found a place there.

Today I'm almost never out with the night crowds, I don't remember the last pre-party I was a part of. The phenomenon "pre-party" doesn't even exist in my life anymore. I think that's good and age appropriate, but I'm not sure. Have I lost something on the way?

Carrie & Lowell is a fairly low-key, sparsely arranged record, where a large part of the inspiration comes from Sufjan's mother's death, in 2012. With this as its main inspiration it's not surprising that the album is sad, quiet and beautiful. It allows me to get into a melancholy mood far from the young years' pre-parties. Yes, rather the opposite. I like the album. Many believe it's Sufjan's best and that it was the best album of 2015. I haven't heard enough albums from 2015, so I can't have an opinion, all I can say it's a really good record.

Sufjan had a complicated relationship with his mother. She suffered from mental disorders and a substance abuse, she abandoned him as a child and was a figure that only occasionally appeared and disappeared again in his life. It made her death a bit more complicated to relate to, I'm guessing. It's beautiful, fragile creations on the album, which fit well on a cloudy day, when you feel alone, you realize how you get older, and the earlier, more adventurous years increasingly fade to a memory. Ah, sweet melancholy.

So I can definitely recommend the album. Should I be somewhat critical, it may be that not a lot of variety is offered. The songs keep the same pace, the same sort of arrangements and convey the same mood. But that's OK, it makes you stay in a calmer mindstate.

As 20 years younger, I would also have liked this album. But then it had probably been played the day after, when the night, which always ended the same way - you went home alone, wondering what you did wrong - and in the morning you kept thinking about what you really wanted to do with your life. A question that is still unanswered, by the way.

Tracklist

Side A
1. Death with Dignity 3:59
2. Should Have Known Better 5:07
3. All of Me Wants All of You 3:41
4. Drawn to the Blood 3:18
5. Fourth of July 4:39

Side B
1. The Only Thing 4:44
2. Carrie & Lowell 3:14
3. Eugene 2:26
4. My Beloved John 5:04
5. No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross 2:40
6. Blue Bucket of Gold 4:43