Well, folks, it's finally here: after five years of creative crises and non-LP releases, baroque folk troubadour Sufjan Stevens is ready to release a new album. The long-awaited disc is called The Age of Adz and it's due out October 12 digitally and on CD. A double LP will follow on November 8. Both will come via Asthmatic Kitty.
This comes less than a week after Stevens unveiled his new All Delighted People EP. According to a press release, the new album "sounds nothing like the All Delighted EP (although it shares similar themes of love, loss and the apocalypse)." Unlike past releases, it's not "built around any conceptual underpinning (no odes to states, astrology or urban expressways)."
The LP "shows an extensive use of electronics (banjos and acoustic guitars give way to drum machines and analog synthesizers), and an obsession with cosmic fantasies (space, heaven, aliens, love) to create an explicit pop-song extravaganza, augmented by heavy orchestration, and maybe even a few danceable moments."
Or, to put it more concisely, "Verse, chorus, bridge, backbeat. Gated reverb. Space echo. Get your boogie on."
If you were wondering about the title, it "loosely refers to the apocalyptic paintings of outsider artist Royal Robertson (1930 to 1997), whose work is used for the album cover, interior design and as general inspiration for the tone of the album."
See the album cover above and the tracklist below. The closing song, "Impossible Soul," is over 25 minutes long. If you preorder now, you'll receive an MP3 download of the album on September 28 - two weeks before the official release date.
The Age of Adz:
1. "Futile Devices"
2. "Too Much"
3. "Age of Adz"
4. "I Walked"
5. "Now That I'm Older"
6. "Get Real Get Right"
7. "Bad Communication"
8. "Vesuvius"
9. "All for Myself"
10. "I Want To Be Well"
11. "Impossible Soul"
This comes less than a week after Stevens unveiled his new All Delighted People EP. According to a press release, the new album "sounds nothing like the All Delighted EP (although it shares similar themes of love, loss and the apocalypse)." Unlike past releases, it's not "built around any conceptual underpinning (no odes to states, astrology or urban expressways)."
The LP "shows an extensive use of electronics (banjos and acoustic guitars give way to drum machines and analog synthesizers), and an obsession with cosmic fantasies (space, heaven, aliens, love) to create an explicit pop-song extravaganza, augmented by heavy orchestration, and maybe even a few danceable moments."
Or, to put it more concisely, "Verse, chorus, bridge, backbeat. Gated reverb. Space echo. Get your boogie on."
If you were wondering about the title, it "loosely refers to the apocalyptic paintings of outsider artist Royal Robertson (1930 to 1997), whose work is used for the album cover, interior design and as general inspiration for the tone of the album."
See the album cover above and the tracklist below. The closing song, "Impossible Soul," is over 25 minutes long. If you preorder now, you'll receive an MP3 download of the album on September 28 - two weeks before the official release date.
The Age of Adz:
1. "Futile Devices"
2. "Too Much"
3. "Age of Adz"
4. "I Walked"
5. "Now That I'm Older"
6. "Get Real Get Right"
7. "Bad Communication"
8. "Vesuvius"
9. "All for Myself"
10. "I Want To Be Well"
11. "Impossible Soul"
