Over the course of his career, Sufjan Stevens has blurred distinctions between the major and the minor, between the details that colour our existence and the big events that frame our lives. He has turned historical footnotes of States into kaleidoscopic pop, and rendered the immeasurable grief of loss with intimacy and grace.
Javelin, Sufjan's first solo album of songs since 2020, bridges all these approaches. Sufjan uses the quietness of a solitary confession to ask universal questions in songs we can share communally. Accompanying the LP of the album is a 48-page book of art and essays. With a series of meticulous collages, cut-up catalog fantasies, puff-paint word clouds, and iterative color fields, Sufjan builds order from seeming chaos and vice versa. And toward the middle of it all are 10 short essays by Sufjan, another window into the process that informed Javelin.
Exclusive LEMONADE vinyl produced by Athsmatic Kitty Records in 2023.
TRACKLISTING:
Goodbye Evergreen
A Running Start
Will Anybody Ever Love Me?
Everything That Rises
Genuflecting Ghost
My Red Little Fox
So You Are Tired
Javelin (To Have and to Hold)
Shit Talk
There's a World