Sufjan Stevens shares ‘Death With Dignity (Demo)’
ASTHMATIC KITTY RELEASE SUFJAN STEVENS’ ‘DEATH WITH DIGNITY (DEMO)’
DELUXE 2-LP 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF CARRIE & LOWELL, OUT 30 MAY
FEATURES SEVEN PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED BONUS TRACKS, 40-PAGE ART BOOK & NEW ESSAY BY SUFJAN
“Understated beauty packs a big emotional punch, 10 years on”
9/10 Uncut
“A delight in every way”
5/5 The Guardian
“[Carrie & Lowell] feels like you’re hearing [Sufjan Stevens] for the first time again, and in his most intimate form’”
Pitchfork, 9.3 ‘Best New Music’
Listen to ‘Death With Dignity (Demo)’ here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YTAKmNN1kc
Instagram | Website | Asthmatic Kitty
Last month marked the 10th anniversary of Sufjan Stevens’ monumental BPI and RIAA-certified Gold album Carrie & Lowell. In celebration, Asthmatic Kitty Records announced that Carrie & Lowell (10th Anniversary Edition) will be released 30 May, featuring the original album plus seven previously unreleased demo versions, a 40-page art book, an alternate cover and a new essay by Sufjan. Following ‘Mystery of Love (Demo)’, released last month, Asthmatic Kitty now release ‘Death With Dignity (Demo)’ with a lyric video, directed by Rena Johnson. One of many “restrained and meticulous” songs, with “graceful melodies, plucked strings and shimmery keyboard tones,” (The New York Times) found on Carrie & Lowell, ‘Death With Dignity (Demo)’ pares down the original’s already sparsely populated arrangement to just Sufjan.
In March 2015, Carrie & Lowell — Sufjan’s most personal album to date — arrived to instant critical success, weaving itself, undimming, into the fabric of our shared culture. The result of an immensely difficult process in which Sufjan’s songwriting, usually a salve, failed him in the wake of his mother’s death, he was eventually led out of a cycle of creative doubt with a rare handover of production duties to Thomas Bartlett. A return to Sufjan’s folk roots in its deliberate, scant instrumentation, what came forth is presented with an unexpected clarity of vision. In wrestling with darkness and devastation, life and death, Sufjan was eventually able to begin making sense of the beauty and ugliness of love.
Ten years on, this anniversary edition takes the listener back to the moments leading up to and including its release rather than deconstructing the album or building on it and continuing its legacy. Here, Carrie & Lowell is presented in its full form once again, alongside a glimpse of the different roads it could have taken.
In anticipation of the album’s release, next month, fans will have the opportunity to hear the album without distraction in complete darkness at immersive Pitchblack Playback Sessions in cities across the UK, Europe, North America, New Zealand, and South America. Tickets and further information are available here. Additionally, free retail listening events are being held in cities in North America and Australia on 28 May offering fans the chance to purchase the release two days early. All who attend will receive a free poster featuring original artwork by Sufjan (while supplies last).
The double LP is available on semi-transparent violet vinyl at retail stores worldwide and on blue and white custom colour mix vinyl exclusively in the AKR store. Pre-order Carrie & Lowell (10th Anniversary Edition) here.
https://sufjanstevens.lnk.to/CL10year
Photo credit: Emmanuel Afolabi
High-res images can be found here
Pitchblack Playback Sessions:
14 May – Manchester @ Cultplex
24 May – Schiedam, NL @ Koda
26 May – Copenhagen, DK @ Empire Bi
26 May – Auckland, NZ @ The Capitol Theatre
26 May – London @ Phoenix Arts Club
27 May – Santiago, CL @ Omni Soundlab
27 May – Mexico City, MX @ Shhh
27 May – Bristol @ We The Curious Planetarium
28 May – Aarhus, DK @ Øst For Paradis
28 May – Paris, FR @ Listener
28 May – Brighton @ The Old Market
29 May – New Plymouth, NZ @ Len Lye Centre Cinema
29 May – Los Angeles, CA @ Neuehouse Hollywood
Retail Listening Events on 28 May:
Atlanta, GA @ Criminal Records
Melbourne, AU @ Happy Valley Shop
San Francisco, CA @ Amoeba Music
New York, NY @ Honey Moon Coffee Shop
Washington, DC @ Byrdland Records
Dallas, TX @ Josey Records
Kansas City, MO @ Josey Records
Toronto, ON @ Sonic Boom
Portland, OR @ Music Millennium
Seattle, WA @ Easy Street, California Ave
Chicago, IL, @ Reckless Records (N. Milwaukee Location)
Newcastle, AU @ Abicus
Carrie & Lowell (10th Anniversary Edition) tracklist:
Disc 1:
1. Death with Dignity
2. Should Have Known Better
3. All of Me Wants All of You
4. Drawn To the Blood
5. Eugene
6. Fourth of July
7. The Only Thing
8. Carrie & Lowell
9. John My Beloved
10. No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross
11. Blue Bucket of Gold
Disc 2:
1. Death with Dignity (Demo)
2. Should Have Known Better (Demo)
3. Eugene (Demo)
4. The Only Thing (Demo)
5. Mystery Of Love (Demo)
6. Wallowa Lake Monster (Version 2)
7. Fourth of July (Version 4)
Praise for Carrie & Lowell:
“A delight in every way”
5/5 The Guardian
‘Album of the Month’ 4/5 Mojo
“At every turn [Stevens] unfolds the fists of self-pity into upturned palms of generosity”
5/5 ‘Album of the Week’ Daily Telegraph
“This whispered, exquisite collection is so fragile that you daren’t open a window in case it blows away forever”
5/5 The Standard
“A musical and emotionally cathartic triumph”
10/10 Loud & Quiet
“A stark, sublime immersion in intimate memory”
9/10 Uncut
“[Stevens] spools out his genius as casually as breathing”
9/10 NME
“The overall gentle, delicate texture of Carrie & Lowell is like a gossamer shroud of solace cast over a period of deep confliction”
4/5 ‘Album of the Week’ The Independent
‘Album of the Week’ The Observer
“It’s a quietly astonishing album”
Esquire
‘9/10’ Clash
‘4/5’ FT
“By going through it all, by exposing all the pain, Sufjan’s created something beautiful and vital”
4/5 DIY
“A beautiful album of unfaltering rawness”
The Quietus
“A sparse, beautiful and gut-wrenching album”
5/5 The Arts Desk
8.5/10 ‘Album of the Week’ The Line of Best Fit