2LP Black Vinyl Gatefold Cover + Download

The Ascension is Sufjan Stevens' eighth solo studio album - and the long-awaited follow-up to Carrie & Lowell. Sufjan says the album's underpinnings are "a call for personal transformation and a refusal to play along with the systems around us". The first single America stands as "a protest song against the sickness of American culture in particular". "Don't do to me what you did to America" ​​sings Sufjan, and "Don't do to me what you do to yourself". America might feel like an appropriate commentary at the time, but it was written six years ago - the song was originally worked on during the making of Carrie & Lowell. Sufjan re-recorded the song some time ago and then spent two years computer writing and recording the rest of The Ascension's material almost entirely himself - most of it using a drum machine and a handful of synthesizers - using "America" ​​as the theme template to use. Sufjan says: "My goal for this album was simple: to question the world around me and question everything that doesn't hold water. Eradicate all nonsense. Be part of the solution or stay out of the way. Be realistic. stay honest keep it simple Keep moving." The result is a "lush, narrative pop album" - as Sufjan describes it - that finds us all at a "terrifying crossroads".

Labels:
Asthmatic Kitty Records AKR150
Format:
2× Vinyl, LP
Country:
USA & Europe
Released:
02 Oct 2020
Genre:
electronic, pop
Style:
Indie pop, synth pop

tracklist

A1 Make Me An Offer I Cannot Refuse 5:19
A2 Run Away With Me 4:07
A3 Video Game 4:16
A4 Laments 3:42
A5 Tell Me You Love Me 4:22
B6 The Happy 5:47
B7 Ativan 6:32
B8 Ursa Major 3:43
B9 Landslide 5:04
C10 Gilgamesh 3:50
C11 Death Star 4:04
C12 Goodbye To All That 3:48
C13 Sugar 7:37
D14 The Ascension 5:56
D15 America 12:30