'Carrie & Lowell' by Sufjan Stevens

Carrie & Lowell

by Sufjan Stevens

Release Date: 31st March 2015

Tracklist: Death with Dignity / Should Have Known Better / All of Me Wants All of You / Drawn to the Blood / Eugene / Fourth of July / The Only Thing / Carrie & Lowell / John My Beloved / No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross / Blue Bucket of Gold //

This is one of the first albums that I have reviewed that has been released in the same year, an album that is pretty new rather than just new to me. My brother bought me this album for my birthday; I listened to it straight through quite a few times, over and over. When I first heard the album, I described it as ‘adorable’, due to the simple incorporation of his voice, small and timid, over the chosen instrumentation. This soon changed when I genuinely started to listen to what he was singing about. It's a beautiful album, that's clearly intimate and dear to Sufjan Stevens covering themes of family, grief, loss, childhood, loneliness, etc.

The album is about his mother and stepfather - his mother who was a drug addict, who had previously abandoned Stevens throughout his life, died of stomach cancer in 2012. His stepfather, although only married to this mother for a short period of time, became an important part of Stevens' life and is mentioned many times throughout the album.

There are references to mythology ("But in this light you look like Poseidon", (All of me wants all of you), “Erebus on my back”, (Carrie and Lowell), “Icarus, point to the sun”) and to religion (“Revelation may come true (All of me wants all of you)”, (All of me wants all of you), “They said beware, Lord hear my prayer”) littered throughout the album surrounding the main subjects of memories of his family. The album is filled with dark subjects, from death and loss (“It was night when you died, my firefly / What could I have said to raise you from the dead?”), to addiction and mental health – both his mother’s mental health issues and his reliance on alcohol (“Get drunk to get laid”, “Stumbling words at the bar”, “Drunk as a horsefly”, “Thorazine’s friend”), suicidal thoughts, (“I’ll drive that stake through the centre of my heart”), self-loathing (“In a manner of speaking, I’m dead”), and acceptance (“I forgive you mother / I can hear you / And I long to be near you / But every road leads to an end”). Through these dark themes, there are light, when he mentions his brother’s daughter, in Should Have Known Better, “Don’t back down, concentrate on seeing / The breakers in the bar, the neighbour’s greeting / My brother had a daughter / The beauty that she brings, illumination”.

From what I have read and seen about this album, it is very simple and stripped down compared to his other work, in terms of instrumentation. It makes sense for the album to be written this way, as it makes it that much more intimate towards the context of the album. With elements that add to the depth, such as reverb, that is a constant element throughout the album, on his vocals and the backing vocals juxtaposed over his guitar accompaniment enhance the dreamlike nostalgic atmosphere created from his lyrics, making them almost sound like ghosts in the room. The overall sound is minimal and haunting.

Fourth of July is written about his mother and her death, where he speaks to her, using terms of endearment to address her, such as “my firefly”, “my little hawk”, “my little Versailles”, “my star in the sky”, while finally after questioning through the song about what he could have said “to raise you from the dead” he concludes the piece with the realisation that “we’re all going to die”.

The album, although dark in themes and atmosphere, is amazing to get lost in, and becomes an experience or journey of listening.