**i listened to this whole album a few days ago so I'm a bit fuzzy, but i'm gonna give this my all. -casey bell
The folk inspired pitch of his voice, accompanied by echoes and sometime female harmonies, and the famous piano-guitar mix, is a familiar one: the rookie Sufjan Steven's sound, but as he comes back to his "roots" something about the lyrics, breathes a new air into this collective of eulogies, that are able to soak up his interpretation of existence, and all pastimes and people we fill with the countdown of years: being life. The 39 year old singer-songwriter, who I like to call, "The King of Whispers and Lullabies," released his newest album Carrie and Lowell, after his mother passed away. It has also been stated that the two people on the cover (his mother and stepfather) the stories behind many of the songs on this 11 track album. Before this album, I had never listened to Steven's music in full, instead I saved a few tracks from "Illinois" and "Michigan" for a few playlists on my ipod. "Carrie and Lowell" being his 9th album I listened to his album in full, start to finish, and allowed myself the necessary time and ability to break down the lyrics, the sound, the melodies, the instruments, and the harmonies in this wonderfully composed piece of work. The songs were made in layers, and each one, while telling it's own personal story, collects like dust and eventually all turns the same color, which I quite enjoyed. The folk inspired pitch of his voice, accompanied by echoes and some higher soprano notes and hopeful falsettos, along with the famous piano-guitar mix, feels like kin to his rookie sound. Although while preserving the same sound, Sufjan manages to breathes a new air into this lyrical collective of eulogies. His interpretation of existence, summed up by all the pastimes and people we fit into the years, asks uncomfortable questions and makes peace with the past, that being said, I give this album a 9.5/10.
Most Listened to Tracks:
The succession of this song, seems like the steps of grief taken when someone close to us dies, it's inevitable but we question it, doubt it's real, and wonder what to do next. The song it ends with a kind of church hymnal choir of Sufjan's voice and instruments, which feels like the end of church service from the funeral. This is the premiere song on the album, and it was incomprehensible in the way life's inescapable events provide us with a set of feelings and questions; it's kind of like he's saying it's okay, and our brains are only capable of understanding the end of someone's life, even though we've never quite experienced it. My favorite lyrics are "Somewhere in the desert, there's a forest." Death breeds the new, and maybe it's his explanation of grief, someone leaves us, but we see them in a new way, the only way you can find the forest in the desert is to give into grief and intuition.
The lyrics and the musical composure to this song are in some aspects such a lullaby, by even with the depth of lyrics, it's ironic, and juxtaposed. Sufjan inserts these moments of mourning, and life, that are childishly imprudent as forgetting to tie your shoes. As the refrain repeats "we're all gonna die." It's as if this song is to a younger part of himself, beginning questions with nicknames like "my little hawk," "my little dove," "my little versailles." It's kind of a conversation in the likes to a child and a parent trying to make sense of what really can't be described. This song is touching because I think it's like reminding yourself in these inevitable events that you were someone's child, you were little once, you have a gentle curious heart, and it's okay not to understand the event, and it's okay for you to be soothed by the same things as a kid. Additionally I love that the piano is highlighted the most in this piece, because it's elementary but provides a repetition that matches with the blank verse style of these lyrics which is basically a sonnet. (asking a question, and answering a question).
all that i have to say is this did not provide me the relief of an ending, and that's why I can't stop listening to it. The peak that never stops to go steady or fall down. I can't make sense of this track, so just listen to it for yourself.
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