• Sufjan Stevens – The Greatest Gift Mixtape

    November 24, 2017 - By 

    The release of Sufjan Stevens’ last album proper, 2015’s Carrie & Lowell, proved him to be an artist still very much at the top of his game. A decade on from the breakthrough of Illinois, the album saw him swap that record’s lavish arrangements, and follow up The Age of Adz’s oddball electronics, for a return to the hushed folk and introspection found on 2004’s Seven Swans, this time themed around his parents in the wake of his mother’s passing. The album’s tracklisting seemed so perfectly formed – he tended to play all eleven tracks at subsequent live shows, as…

  • Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly & James McAlister – Planetarium

    June 7, 2017 - By 

    “I am the god of war. I reside in every creature. Dispose of the future or put away your sword.” Michigan’s musical polymath Sufjan Stevens takes aim at the stars to reflect on the best and worst of our human nature on this collaborative record with Bryce Dessner of The National, composer Nico Muhly, and drummer James McAlister. The arrangements may be stellar, but earth is never too far away. “Love me completely in song” opines Stevens on ‘Venus’, with its references to Methodist summer camp and formative sexual experience. Each of the planets is a canvas for Stevens to ruminate on…

  • Sufjan Stevens @ The Helix, Dublin

    August 31, 2015 - By 

    Once impressively prolific, new music by Sufjan Stevens comes along at a much slower pace these days, so the anticipation for tonight’s show, the first of two sold out shows at The Helix and the opening date his European tour, has been building for a while. After an support set from bluesy mother and son duo Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear, Sufjan and his unassuming looking band take to the stage, and it’s immediately clear that we’re in for a very different show from when he last visited these shores four years ago. For a start, we’re all seated,…