music > vinil > SUFJAN STEVENS > Javelin
sTEVENS, SUFJAN - JAVELIN
Javelin marks Stevens' first solo album of songs since 2020's The
Ascension, and his first in full singer-songwriter mode since 2015's
Carrie & Lowell, bridging all these approaches like never before.
Whether listened to individually or as an album, these 10 songs
become something much bigger, the entire experience of Stevens'
25-year career brought to bear in four-minute bursts of choral,
orchestral, and electric wonder. Javelin pairs musical sweep with
emotional breadth. At times, it has the feel of a big team album
production - but it is decidedly not: almost every sound here is the
result of Stevens at home, building by himself what sometimes
feels like a testament to '70s Los Angeles studio opulence. The
contributions come from a close circle of friends - adrienne maree
brown, Hannah Cohen, Pauline Delassus, Megan Lui and Nedelle
Torrisi - who provide harmonies on many songs, and Bryce
Dessner, who plays acoustic and electric guitar on "Shit Talk." Of
course, Neil Young wrote the tender and mystic album closer,
"There's A World." Where The Ascension, lauded by The New York
Times as "a cry of despair and prayer for redemption," used ornate
but urgent electronics to square up to its moment, Javelin begins
like a self-portrait, detailed yet plain. This is Stevens at his most
intimate, calling back to Seven Swans or Carrie & Lowell and then
calling you close to share in its internal reckoning. Javelin is
accompanied by a 48-page book of art and essays all created by
Stevens, including a series of meticulous collages, cut-up catalog
fantasies, puff-paint word clouds, and iterative color fields. The 10
short essays - alternatively funny, tragic, poignant, obtuse, and
specific - offer little glimpses into loves and losses that have
shaped him, and, in turn, these songs.
TRACKLISTING: 01. GOODBYE EVERGREEN 02. A RUNNING START
03. WILL ANYBODY EVER LOVE ME? 04. EVERYTHING THAT RISES
05. GENUFLECTING GHOST 06. MY RED LITTLE FOX 07. SO YOU ARE
TIRED 08. JAVELIN (TO HAVE AND TO HOLD) 09. SHIT TALK
10. THERE'S A WORLD
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