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ASTHMATIC KITTY RECORDS

Sufjan Stevens

Carrie & Lowell - 10th Anniversary Edition

    A decade after its release, 'Carrie & Lowell' continues to resonate as one of Sufjan Stevens’ most personal and beloved albums—“a fall-down gorgeous and emotionally devastating masterpiece” (The Guardian). To mark the anniversary, Asthmatic Kitty Records presents 'Carrie & Lowell' –10th Anniversary Edition, featuring seven never-before-released demos that offer a rare window into the album’s creation. With updated cover art, a beautifully designed 40-page booklet and new essay reflecting on the album by Sufjan, this special edition celebrates and expands the legacy of one of his most cherished works. This anniversary edition is a must-listen for fans and newcomers alike, inviting listeners to experience the music’s evolution and reflect on the raw emotional landscapes that influenced its creation.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Death With Dignity
    2. Should Have Known Better
    3. All Of Me Wants All Of You
    4. Drawn To The Blood
    5. 4th Of July
    6. The Only Thing
    7. Carrie & Lowell
    8. Eugene
    9. John My Beloved
    10. No Shade In The Shadow Of The Cross
    11. Blue Bucket Of Gold
    12. Death With Dignity (Demo)
    13. Should Have Known Better (Demo)
    14. Eugene (Demo)
    15. The Only Thing (Demo)
    16. Mystery Of Love (Demo)
    17. Wallowa Lake Monster (Version 2)
    18. 4th Of July (Version 4)

    Denison Witmer

    Anything At All

      Denison Witmer returns with a new collection of ten vibrant and pensive folk-pop songs recorded and produced by Sufjan Stevens, his long-time friend and collaborator. 'Anything At All' finds Denison in a suitably reflective mood, mining sublime revelation from an ordinary, domesticated life. Topics like bird watching, carpentry, houseplants, and hiking offer insights into bigger, existential questions about life, death, meaning, and purpose. What are we doing with the precious time we have left on this earth? Whether it’s spent making clocks, gathering berries, planting trees, or putting the kids to bed at night, these songs suggest that a life lived with thoughtfulness and care can lead to deeper joy and fulfilment.

      Recorded sporadically over a period of two years, Anything At All was primarily created at Sufjan’s Catskills studio during the pandemic, with additional sessions recorded by Andy Park, in Seattle, WA. Contributors include Stevens and Park as well as Sam Evian, Hannah Cohen, Sean Lane, and Keenan O'Meara, amongst others. The album’s musical aesthetic marries Denison’s folksy, Mennonite vibe with Sufjan’s signature bells and whistles: lush strings and woodwinds, women’s choir, and an occasional jazzy saxophone weave their way around Denison’s matter-of-fact vocals and acoustic guitar. These are simple folk songs with bursts of awe and wonder

      TRACK LISTING

      1. Focus Ring
      2. Older And Free
      3. A House With
      4. Making Love
      5. Clockmaker
      6. Confessions
      7. Lost In My Head
      8. Shade I’ll Never See
      9. Slow Motion Snow
      10. Brother’s Keeper

      Sufjan Stevens

      Convocations

        Convocations, the new instrumental album from Sufjan Stevens, moves like a two-and-a-half-hour electronic/ambient mass for our present age of anxiety and dread; its 49 tracks work through the stages of grief and gladness with emotional mood music that is dreamy, dissonant, vertiginous, rhythmic, repetitive, urgent, and calm—that is, all the things we undergo when we inevitably live through isolation, uncertainty, and loss. Its five sonic cycles (Meditations, Lamentations, Revelations, Celebrations, and Incantations) replicate different stages of mourning, healing and catharsis, working both to soothe our unease while savoring a renewed sense of awe and wonder for being alive in these unprecedented times.

        Stevens initiated Convocations in response to (and as an homage to) the life and death of his father, who died in September last year, two days following the release of The Ascension. It is, then, ultimately an album about death, and an album that reflects a year in which we have all lost so much. That said, this is not a personal record, but a universal one. Convocations is built on a shared experience that seeks to be honest about how complicated grief can be in these difficult times—the pain and separation, the anxiety, the unknown, the absolute joy of memory. This is also an album made in lockdown, when we were all cloistered in whatever space we had. Convocations arrives just as we begin to emerge from a year whose losses we will calculate for a lifetime.

        It is, then, right on time, as we begin to process our grief and try to carry on with it.

        STAFF COMMENTS

        Barry says: This latest outing from the endlessly talented Stevens truly is an epic and sees him turn his hand to the world of ambient music in a 6LP collection. it's wonderfully tender and beautifully accomplished, further proving Sufjan can turn his hand to anything, no matter the genre.

        TRACK LISTING

        Volume 1: Meditations
        SIDE A
        Meditation I 3:39
        Meditation II 2:26
        Meditation III 4:04
        Meditation IV 2:09
        Meditation V 2:10
        SIDE B
        Meditation VI 2:16
        Meditation VII 2:33
        Meditation VIII 1:48
        Meditation IX 2:11
        Meditation X 3:40

        Volume 2: Lamentations
        SIDE C
        Lamentation I 3:48
        Lamentation II 2:24
        Lamentation III 3:17
        Lamentation IV 1:59
        Lamentation V 4:10
        SIDE D
        Lamentation VI 4:42
        Lamentation VII 1:51
        Lamentation VIII 3:34
        Lamentation IX 3:29
        Lamentation X 1:58

        Volume 3: Revelations
        SIDE E
        Revelation I 3:20
        Revelation II 2:53
        Revelation III 2:01
        Revelation IV 4:09
        Revelation V 2:52
        SIDE F
        Revelation VII 4:03
        Revelation VIII 2:51
        Revelation IX 4:38
        Revelation X 4:17

        Volume 4: Celebrations
        Celebration I 2:19
        Celebration II 5:55
        Celebration III 3:10
        Celebration IV 3:22
        Celebration V 2:59
        Celebration VI 4:01
        Celebration VII 3:41
        Celebration VIII 3:25
        Celebration IX 1:35
        Celebration X 4:10

        Volume 5: Incantations
        Incantation I 2:17
        Incantation II 1:58
        Incantation III 1:36
        Incantation IV 2:10
        Incantation V 3:14
        Incantation VI 1:49
        Incantation VII 1:53
        Incantation VIII 2:56
        Incantation IX 4:28

        Rafter

        Music For Total Chickens

          "Music For Total Chickens" is built from bits of pop architecture nailed together in odd forms; it is structurally sound (no pun intended), but at the same time it defies the conventional laws of (pop) physics. There are twisty-turny time signatures, swaddled in chunky guitar fuzz, sweet strings, harmonized 'ooo's and direct lyrical love-notes sometimes riding percussive trails all the way up great crescendos to pinnacles of bangcrash (like if Deerhoof recorded a self-help album).

          My Brightest Diamond

          Bring Me The Workhorse

            MBD is Shara Worden, a trained opera singer turned pop songwriter whose debut courageously gathers all the essential elements of classical and pop to create an album that begins to break down the barriers of both worlds. These songs are simultaneously gentle and urgent, evoking moments of tremendous joy and sorrow. "Bring Me The Workhorse" shows unusual versatility in a singer who can channel the vocal theatrics of Kate Bush, the soulful seductiveness of Nina Simone and the gothic pop of Portishead, sometimes in one song.


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