I think it’s aged very well, honestly. Still his best record next to Illinois and a lot of the perception of the album from the general population is still the same as it was when it came out. There are albums I can listen to years later and feel like I’m listening for the first time and falling in love all over again. This is one of those records.
I'm in the minority here... It's a good album, but I wouldn't put it in his top 3. I do think Carrie & Lowell Live > the recorded album
Never listened to the live album but the show I went to was out of this world. I'd prob rate the album a harsh 7 or 8 out of 10 but the tour was on a very short list of greatest shows ever for me.
Missed that tour because I was away in college, but I saw him play a festival set the following year which was great. I wonder if he will tour for this album when touring comes back. I remember in an interview he said something about this album not being tour-able (I believe) but I hope he does.
Sufjan is very high on my list of musicians to see live once concerts resume. C & L helped give a much-needed language to my own grief and it’s such a stunning record.
As far as the record not aging well, if any album is immune to aging for me it's this one. I'm sure it's my own context, and going through a ton of personal grief, but it almost feels less like an album and more like a major life event. Once it happens, it's part of my life forever. The only other record that's captured the same timelessness for me in terms of processing grief and trauma is Sprained Ankle.
Apparently he’s putting out a 5-LP set inspired by the death of his father. Should be another laugh riot from the humor king!
5 hours, holy isht. From the bandcamp write-up: “Announcing “Convocations,” an instrumental album by Sufjan Stevens, out May 6 digitally, and August 20th via 5xLP colored vinyl boxset. “Convocations” comprises five volumes—Meditations, Lamentations, Revelations, Celebrations and Incantations—the project is a two-and-a-half-hour, 49-track reflection on a year of anxiety, uncertainty, isolation, and loss. Join us this Thursday at 12pm ET, and each Thursday following, when we’ll premiere a full volume alongside visuals by Melissa Fuentes, via YouTube livestream. The livestream will remain active during that week to come, and we encourage you to join in the stream’s chat throughout to reflect, respond, meditate, lament, revel, celebrate, and incant what we’ve gained and what we’ve lost over the last year, and what we see on the horizon. Convocations 5xLP boxset will be available for pre-order this Thursday, April 8 at 1PM EST.”