1LP Black Vinyl + 48-page booklet!

»Javelin« combines musical momentum with emotional breadth. Sometimes you get the feeling that the album was produced by a large team - but it's not at all: almost every sound here is the result of Stevens himself creating something that sometimes feels like a testament to the 70s studio opulence in Los Angeles. Contributions come from a close circle of friends - Adrienne Maree Brown, Hannah Cohen, Pauline Delassus, Megan Lui and Nedelle Torrisi - who contribute harmonies to many of the songs, as well as Bryce Dessner, who plays acoustic and electric guitar on "Shit Talk." The album's tender and mystical closer, "There's A World," was written by Neil Young.

While "The Ascension," praised by The New York Times as "a cry of despair and a prayer for salvation," uses artful but urgent electronics to approach the moment, "Javelin" begins like a self-portrait, detailed yet simple. This is Stevens' most intimate work, reminiscent of "Seven Swans" or "Carrie & Lowell" and calls the listener close to his inner reckoning. “Javelin” is accompanied by a 48-page booklet of art and essays, all created by Stevens, including a series of meticulous collages, cut-up catalog fantasies, puff-paint word clouds, and repeating color fields.
The 10 short essays - alternately funny, tragic, poignant, obtuse and specific - offer small insights into the loves and losses that shaped him and these songs.

Label:
Asthmatic Kitty Records AKR171
Format:
Vinyl, LP, album
Country:
USA & Canada
Released:
06 Oct 2023
Genre:
Rock, Pop, Folk, World, & Country

Tracklist:

A1Goodbye Evergreen
A2A Running Start
A3Will Anyone Ever Love Me?
A4Everything That Rises
A5 Genuflecting Ghost
B1My Red Little Fox
B2So You Are Tired
B3Javelin
B4Shit Talk
B5There's A World