New Sufjan Stevens Album Announced: The Ascension

pavaloo · Sep 11, 2020

I can't wait

been dancing to sufjan bops for what feels like forever

always knew there he was a pop king after impossible soul

Servbot24 · Sep 11, 2020

yagal said:
yup, it really sounds like a leftover from Aporia and Planetarium. 2 bad albums.

Mercury and Neptune are really good songs though to be fair

Nyrad · Sep 11, 2020

yagal said:
yup, it really sounds like a leftover from Aporia and Planetarium. 2 bad albums.

Maybe check out Planetarium in its 2012 incarnation. I think many of the tracks are better than the ones that got released in the end.

SteveWinwood · Sep 15, 2020

Music video for 'Sugar'

Resetti · Sep 15, 2020

SteveWinwood said:
Music video for 'Sugar'

The video is using an edited version of the song, the full song is much longer

This feels like the a mix between Video Game and America. dig it

SteveWinwood · Sep 15, 2020

Resetti said:
The video is using an edited version of the song, the full song is much longer

This feels like the a mix between Video Game and America. dig it

come on baby give me some sugar

peppersky · Sep 15, 2020

this is more interesting than video game but I'm still just really not feeling it. the lyrics are corny, the production is flat and everything interesting about it is just completely overshadowed in the mix and the melodies are pretty forgettable in how much they try to be memorable.

i just kinda want more out of a main sufjan album. as a side project each of these tracks would have been fine, but as a follow-up to carrie and lowell and age of adz this just sucks.

someone on reddit pointed out the similiarities to this sisyphus track and I kinda even prefer that one over this.

LaneDS · Sep 15, 2020

I like that song/video much better than "Video Game".

Also, man, some really poorly made structures for music videos released today:

Future Islands - "Moonlight" (Official Music Video)

'Moonlight', from Future Islands’ new album 'As Long As You Are', out now on 4AD. Listen, stream and buy the album here: https://futureislands.ffm.to/aslong...

www.youtube.com

Resetti · Sep 15, 2020

After a few more listens I think I like Sugar more than Video Game, though the latter has higher replay value.
Highlight of the song is definitely DON'T MAKE ME WAIT, when he screamed that I feel so many things - the anger, the passion, the urge to change.

Deleted member 69573 · Sep 15, 2020

I'm reminded of Lana Del Rey with these lyrics. You need to be a certain level of sincere cornball to pull these off that I don't think Sufjan is unfortunately.

Resetti · Sep 16, 2020

Very insightful interview about the new album.
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture...an-stevens-ascension-bossy-and-bitchy/616366/

These might answer some questions people are having regarding the theme of the album:

"The election of Donald Duck stirred something in me that made me think I was entitled to this cynicism and mean-spiritedness," Stevens said. "I had been holding back a lot of resentment towards pop culture and American culture ... But when all of the shit hit the fan, I realized, I should say something."

"I'm speaking to you," Stevens said. "You are the subject of this record. You, the listener." It's an intimidating album, and I asked whether he was worried about coming off as didactic or preachy. "I think I've earned the right to be didactic and preachy," he said. "I've been doing this for 20 years, and how many songs have I written about my own personal grievances [with] judgment against myself, self-deprecation, and sorrow? I was like, No, I don't want to write another song about my dead mother. I want to write a song that is casting judgment against the world."

The Ascension aim for something "objective and vague" rather than narrative-driven or memoiristic. "Our problems are no longer personal; they're universal," he said. "I think we all feel like that right now."

Stevens would argue that his critiques are grounded in hope. "I don't want anyone to think that what we're going through is unsolvable, because I don't believe that," he said. "I still have faith, I still have hope, I still have love ... Yeah, we got to break shit up, but we should also build something better."

Helmholtz · Sep 16, 2020

Yeah, first with Video Games, now with Sugar, this just seems super unremarkable and not for me. It's not what I'm looking for from him.

peppersky · Sep 16, 2020

Resetti said:
Very insightful interview about the new album.
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture...an-stevens-ascension-bossy-and-bitchy/616366/

Man, I'm just really not feeling anything he is saying here. Just comes off as completely oblivious. Like how the fuck did he come out of the last years with an attitude of "time for me to cast my judgement on the world"? you are like 45 years old now wtf

Aurongel · Sep 16, 2020

I cannot understate just how bad listening to Sugar made me feel. It's aggressively sappy and was almost embarrassing at times with how on the nose the lyrics are.

I don't want him doing Carrie and Lowell 2.0 but this and his last project just seem like complete misses from him.

Resetti · Sep 20, 2020

"I Wish There Could Be A Revolution" - A Quietus Interview
Again, the man explains the come about of this album. It's a well-written interview(as is the Atlantic one) so give them a read if you have time. Here are some quotes I think folks here will be interested in.

Re: tone and backstory of the album

I bring up the upcoming presidential election and he sighs. "Well the thing's just so disappointing to me, I wish there could be a revolution. I wish we could break it all down and build it all back. I wish that we could rewrite our constitution. I wish we could put ten-year olds in power." He sighs again, before forcing optimism. "But anything is better than where we are now, so I'm hopeful about that. I'm also jaded and tired. Isolation and fear, it's become so crippling here."

"Don't do to me what you did to America,"...It was in fact more prophetic than timely; he wrote it in 2014, "and then shelved it because I didn't really understand what it was. The phrase 'don't do to me what you did to America' was just coming out because it sounded cool, but I thought it was mean-spirited. Then the years went by. I realised, this is just how I feel! And it's how I've been feeling for a very long time."... Eventually, as the warning signs gave way to the things they were warning us about - children held in cages, the so-called 'Muslim ban', inaction in the face of accelerating climate change, he realised it was time to "embrace the tone and persona of that song."

"...I think I felt an obligation as an artist to be hopeful and generous and kind-spirited. I can engage in sorrow and self-pity and sadness, but anger was never my calling. But this time I think I just needed to embrace it. I felt like I had no choice. So, I did."

Re: lyrical choices and takeaways

"A lot of my earlier songs were informed by my experiences in writing workshops, reading literature, using elements of fiction writing like 'create a setting, create a backstory, show don't tell." This time, however, the situation called for drastic change. "I decided to embrace catchphrases and cliches and figures of speech. Instead of being benign platitudes, I felt like they could speak for deeper wisdoms and act as beacons to help me work through all these issues."..."Every song title on the album is a cliché"

He is aware, however, that sloganeering rarely offers an actual answer. "I think this album is somewhat crippling in a way. It's an expository album, it's working through arguments and posing challenges and grappling with crisis. But I don't think there's a lot of answers on this record, I think there's a lot of commandments and declaratives and imperatives and ultimatums. That's the driving force, the language is very clear, coherent and argumentative, but I don't think there are any solutions."

"If we're going to reach for any bright light of hope on this record it's love, that's the word I keep coming back to," he says, before quoting some of the album's lyrics. "'I must love myself', 'tell me you love me,' I 'wanna love you', all these simplified catchphrases about love are the only glimmer of hope.

"They're very simple, everyday phrases, but to me their resonance and their wisdom is much bigger."

Finally, a tidbit about the sound of the album:

It's the biggest-sounding record of his career, full of enormous rushes of noise and cataclysmic dance breaks, yet its sound was influenced by restriction, by reducing his instrumental set-up to a drum machine and a keyboard when he was turfed out of his Brooklyn studio.

___________

More reviews are coming in. You can find a recurring criticism among them - the album is overwhelming... to say the least. Definitely not a easy swallow.

A few too many of the songs on The Ascension get lost in the album's overwhelmingly dense production.
The album's 80-minute runtime makes some of Stevens's lengthier explorations feel like more of a slog than they might have been out of context. Indeed, this album is so dense that it wouldn't be surprising if some of the less immediate tracks reveal their nuance as time goes on.
Slant Magazine - 3/5

It is the variousness of Stevens's work that has long set him apart. It once seemed remarkable that the artist behind the pared-down Seven Swans would find the splendour of Illinois, let alone the experimental textures of The Age Of Adz or Enjoy Your Rabbit. Amid it all there has always been a temptation for audiences to try to locate the 'real' Stevens, as if delicate confessional vignettes are somehow more truthful than electronic aggression. This is surely a fool's errand - there is no reason an artist cannot be both, if not more. On this sometimes obstinate, sometimes sublime record, Stevens shows he contains multitudes.
Uncut - 7/10

...All of which contributes to The Ascension being a difficult album to parse in its existing form, and ultimately an occasionally frustrating one to encounter. After all, there are 45 minutes or so of beautiful, poignant, original and enthralling music here, with tracks that demonstrate Stevens' almost unparalleled knack for songcraft, emotional manipulation, melody and delivery. However, among them sit, variously, experiments in need of an editor, sketches in need of colour...The Ascension may become something of a white elephant in Stevens' discography: an album of lavish assembly, clearly of immense importance to its creator, and, during its best moments, impressively riveting, but also, you suspect, one that few will revisit in its presented form – a record that only the most devoted of Sufjan stans will be able to swallow whole. For The Ascension, that's not necessarily terminal; for Sufjan Stevens, it's a marked fall from his peak[Carrie & Lowell].
Loud and Quiet - 7/10

Early listenings of The Ascension conjured themes of frustration and annoyance, which was a hard pill to swallow from an artist who has reliably delivered mercy and self-depreciation to date. This album can be perplexing: just as you settle in for the rising chords and harmonies, a rough squeak or truncated sample snaps you back. But if you stay the course (and it isn't difficult), the soothing balm towards the end of the album (particularly the title track) will bring you back.
...It is a deftly rendered mise-en-scène, which softens and reveals more the longer you look.
X-Press Mag - 8/10

The Ascension lives up to its name in more ways than one. Sufjan Stevens finally allows himself to express his true feelings on the world. After years of being the vulnerable crooner, he simultaneously breaks his format and throws past niceties into the face of a world for which he's tired of cutting slack.
Riff Magazine - 8/10

These anxious instrumentals echo the album's uneasy outlook and fear of the future, and when they combine forces it often makes for an astonishing listen. The world is pretty shitty at the moment and it's easy to feel helpless, but as the horror show that is 2020 continues to rumble on, 'The Ascension' is yet another ample soundtrack to rage-dance to.
NME - 4/5

The indie-rock polymath's first proper record in five years rivals his best work
Consequence of Sound - A-

On discovering that The Ascension has a largely electronic sound, the temptation is to draw parallels with his 2010 album The Age Of Adz but there shouldn't be any comparison in this respect – The Ascension is a far superior and more ambitious album.
...He might get judged against his past more than most but The Ascension sees him lay down new paths while very much corroborating his special, loved status.
MusicOMH - 4.5/5

As a huge fan of Stevens' exquisitely personal and musically detailed 2015 album, Carrie & Lowell, I wasn't sure I'd love the trippy new Macro sound. But, though some might find the odd track a bit noodly, I was rendered wonderfully weightless by a journey that delivered whole galaxies of nuance in a universal context. Trust me: the force is strong in this one.
The Independent - 5/5

The richness and depth of the album calls for repeated and careful listening. Sufjan Stevens is a master of sound who makes its creative manipulation appear so easy. "The Ascension" is a climb suitable for beginners – highly accessible and at times even danceable. A dance, however that connects in a paradoxical and highly creative way, with both the despair and hope so fiercely present in our time.
The Arts Desk - 5/5

The album demands multiple, active listens, but it's well worth the effort. Hidden beneath its complex layers lies an endless well of new modalities, critical interpretations and potent ideas. Stevens's latest not only petitions for unconditional love and change among us all, but it also represents a dramatic metamorphosis for the artist as well. It's not an album we could have ever expected in 2020, but it is the one we deserve. It may very well be his most challenging and ambitious undertaking to date as well as a sign of the new era of Stevens to come.
exclaim - 10/10

The Ascension is a lot to take in, both in terms of its intense sound palette and extensive runtime. If you like your Sufjan Stevens in neon electronic mode, armed to the teeth with abrasive drum sounds, dive right in — and keep swimming. For anyone more enamored with his folk and chamber-pop records, it may feel like a rude assault to the senses.
Dusted Magazine - Unscored

"The Ascension" is the darkest record of Mr. Stevens's career...
"The Ascension" is 81 minutes long and is, by design, tightly focused, both musically and thematically. While the album sustains a mood, it's an uncomfortable one to inhabit for almost an hour and a half. It's hard to endure in a single listen, though Mr. Stevens's conviction makes you want to try. "The Ascension" is supposed to be difficult and unsettling, a harrowing record for frightening times.
WSJ - Unscored

Distantmantra · Sep 24, 2020

AVClub gave it a B:

Sufjan Stevens rages, despairs, and dances through The Ascension

Sufjan Stevens' new album is a bloated and often beautiful portrait of political and emotional anxiety—one that longs for nothing more than to break away from the systems that brought us to this current moment.

music.avclub.com

Tanston · Sep 24, 2020

Looking at the reviews I have a feeling the last 2-3 minutes of some of these tracks are going to be a bit of a slog. That said i've really enjoyed the singles so far.

Been fighting off a horrible ear infection thing so I probably won't be able to listen to this with headphones and might actually just wait for vinyl to come in before listening.

yagal · Sep 24, 2020

Mary Celeste · Sep 24, 2020

excited to listen tonight and see how I feel. I love Age of Adz but aside from a couple of songs, neither Illinois nor Carrie & Lowell really work for me, so a more off-the-rocker nonsense album might be more my style.

Resetti · Sep 24, 2020

First listen: this is an ascending experience (ha!), did not feel like 80 minutes at all. Some build-ups are long (Die Happy, Sugar) but the payoff is well worth it.

SteveWinwood · Sep 24, 2020

its not out yet because im a dirty american

Deleted member 69573 · Sep 24, 2020

Consider me shocked at these reviews. Will give it a fair chance now when im less tired and have the time.

MDSVeritas · Sep 25, 2020

Youtube premiere happening now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dYi4P0xNkE

Deleted member 42055 · Sep 25, 2020

I have to listen to it again because all I have on my brain now is the title track, one of his best ever songs , absolutely beautiful

Christmastree55 · Sep 25, 2020

I had no idea! I'm excited!

Mary Celeste · Sep 25, 2020

I liked it a good deal, need more listens. Definitely think some of these songs could've been cut, especially on the first half

Hazzuh · Sep 25, 2020

Just finished my first listen. I like the start and end of the album but the middle feels like a bit of a drag. Too many similar songs with very similar song structure. Also, the album doesn't really sound anything like Age of Adz outside of a few songs. I feel like you could really hear the Steve Reich influence on his older electronic stuff and I can't really hear that at all on this.

Booker Do It · Sep 25, 2020

Absolutely wonderful album. The title track is sublime, as is 'Die Happy'.
It isn't an easy listen by any stretch but I can see it being an album that gets more rewarding the more you listen to it.

Dartastic · Sep 25, 2020

Booker Do It said:
Absolutely wonderful album. The title track is sublime, as is 'Die Happy'.
It isn't an easy listen by any stretch but I can see it being an album that gets more rewarding the more you listen to it.

Yeah. I'm on Die Happy right now and it's absolutely not something I'd just put on and listen to. I'm going to have to dig into this one. There are definitely tracks that I'd put on individually but the album as a whole is really rich.

Distantmantra · Sep 25, 2020

I've been listening this morning, seems like the kind of album I'll be running to.

grang · Sep 25, 2020

Whew, just listened to Make Me An Offer I Cannot Refuse and yeah, I'm gonna wait until I get home to listen with my better headphones. So much going on here.

pavaloo · Sep 25, 2020

this is beautiful
started raining in the west coast and this is the perfect accompaniment
his electronic breakdowns fucken slap too which is to be expected i guess lol

wingkongex · Sep 25, 2020

It's a wild ride.

Deleted member 32005 · Sep 25, 2020

what is that cover art? looks familiar

ejoshua · Sep 25, 2020

I like it so far, needs more listens. Nothing will ever be Carrie and Lowell, but of his 8 main LPs I've enjoyed them all.

The song structure is what is holding me back the most on these though. It's very "three lines, name of the song, three lines and name of the song; long middle part of instrumental, and back to three lines and name of the song."

that said: those three lines, name of song, and long instrumental are all very good.

Soma · Sep 25, 2020

roughly halfway through the album now. i was expecting this to be another Age of Adz with the focus on electronics but while I felt like Age was more "mechanical and grandiose" this feels much more "ethereal and haunting" in nature. I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far.

edit - oh damn was not expecting "death star" to be such a bop

Sleeping Lesson · Sep 25, 2020

Ahh the physical release being delayed to next week is killing me. I like my first listen be on my vinyl setup with my good headphones!

Mifune · Sep 25, 2020

Oh damn, that key change in the second half of Tell Me You Love Me.

I'm liking this album so far.

Cat Party · Sep 25, 2020

I didn't enjoy Age of Adz (though maybe I need to give it another shot as my musical tastes have changed since it came out), but this is incredible so far.

Mifune · Sep 25, 2020

The last third of this album is pretty outstanding. The run of Death Star - Goodbye to All That - Sugar is intense.

SlowRiot · Sep 25, 2020

On first listen and I'm feeling disappointed. Its a long album and defiantly a mood piece so more listens may change my opinion but this was such a slog to get through.

Most songs especially in the middle run have such a homogenous feel with the same vibe and structure and not much interesting going on. And the lyric are just plain corny most of the time.

What I liked so much about Adz was the total chaos that came from it that made more quieter moments like Now that I'm older and All for Myself shine in their own way. And Cary and Lowell shine in that it was the tightest and most emotionally engaging songs he's ever written.

This feels so much like his bloated and meandering side projects.

Also the single My Rajneesh shits on every song on this album and it was left off!

I don't understand it!!

Helmholtz · Sep 25, 2020

Yeah this one isn't for me. I think it's by far one of his weakest projects. Lyrics, melodies, sounds... just all pretty weak with only a few good moments.
FWIW I don't really like Age of Adz either, but love pretty much all his other projects. I guess I just can't get behind his electronic shit.

peppersky · Sep 26, 2020

man im just not feeling this at all
its overlong, overproduced, all the songs sound the same and the lyrics are mostly just corny.
it also just really doesn't feel like the music and the themes really fit together. unlike age of adz and carrie and lowell where he really changed his style up for what he had to say, this kinda just feels like sufjan on autopilot. still pretty good, but also really disappointing.

Distantmantra · Sep 26, 2020

I listened it today while cleaning out the garage and I thought it was wonderful. I particularly enjoy "oppressive sad bastard music" so I don't get a lot of the criticism. [shrug]

i_am_ben · Sep 26, 2020

I found it to be a bit of a slog to be honest.

johnsmith · Sep 26, 2020

Just clicked through a few songs, and yeah, no thanks.

Nothing I hate more than when indie folk artists go electronic. This sounds like Bon Iver's 3rd album, which I hated so much I stopped listening to their first 2.

OneEyedKing · Sep 27, 2020

I love it, I think it's a masterpiece. Probably some of the best songs he's ever written are on this.

johnsmith said:
Just clicked through a few songs, and yeah, no thanks.

Nothing I hate more than when indie folk artists go electronic. This sounds like Bon Iver's 3rd album, which I hated so much I stopped listening to their first 2.

Sufjan's been doing electronic music since his second album which came out in 2001 so this doesn't really make sense. It's not a new development for him.

Mary Celeste · Sep 27, 2020

johnsmith said:
Just clicked through a few songs, and yeah, no thanks.

Nothing I hate more than when indie folk artists go electronic. This sounds like Bon Iver's 3rd album, which I hated so much I stopped listening to their first 2.

scust, Bon Iver's 3rd album is a masterpiece

johnsmith · Sep 27, 2020

OneEyedKing said:
I love it, I think it's a masterpiece. Probably some of the best songs he's ever written are on this.

Sufjan's been doing electronic music since his second album which came out in 2001 so this doesn't really make sense. It's not a new development for him.

yeah I don't listen to those albums.

grang · Sep 27, 2020

Just wanna voice my opinion that Make Me An Offer I Cannot Refuse is an excellent fucking song and an awesome opener

New Sufjan Stevens Album Announced: The Ascension

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