Recorded Mid-2014 Artist Sufjan Stevens Producer Doveman Genres Indie rock, Indie folk | Length 43:35 Release date 31 March 2015 Label Asthmatic Kitty Records | |
Released March 31, 2015 (2015-03-31) Studio Various
Stevens' office, Brooklyn, New York
Flora Recording & Playback, Portland, Oregon
Blackwatch Studios, Norman, Oklahoma
April Base Studios, Fall Creek, Wisconsin
Pat Dillett's studio, Manhattan, New York
A hotel room in Klamath Falls, Oregon Similar Sufjan Stevens albums, Indie folk albums, Other albums | ||
Carrie & Lowell is the seventh studio album by American musician Sufjan Stevens, released through Asthmatic Kitty on March 31, 2015. Unlike Stevens's previous studio album, the electronic The Age of Adz, Carrie & Lowell is sparsely instrumental and marks a return to the performer's indie folk roots. The album was given a one-week preview on NPR.
Contents
The album was released to high critical acclaim, with many critics calling it Stevens' best. Carrie & Lowell was widely deemed one of the best albums of 2015.
Recording
The songs on the album were recorded in 2014 at Stevens' office in Dumbo, Brooklyn and Pat Dillett's studio in Midtown Manhattan. Some of the songs were also recorded in Oregon, at Portland's Flora Recording & Playback and on an iPhone in a Klamath Falls hotel room. A few songs were also tracked in Oklahoma, at Norman's Blackwatch Studios, and in Wisconsin, at Eau Claire's April Base Studios. The songs were inspired by the 2012 death of his mother, Carrie, and the family trips they took to Oregon in Stevens' childhood. Stevens' mother, who suffered from depression, schizophrenia, and substance abuse, abandoned him when he was a year old. According to Stevens, recording the album helped him come to terms with her death and provide closure. The album title also references his stepfather, Lowell, who helped co-found Stevens' record company Asthmatic Kitty.
The album was produced by Thomas Bartlett, known as Doveman, a musician and friend of Stevens who had recently lost a brother to cancer. On Bartlett's production part, Stevens said, "Thomas took all these sketches and made sense of it all. He called me out on my bullshit. He said: 'These are your songs. This is your record.' He was ruthless." In the same interview, on the emotions in the album's recording process, Stevens said:
Commercial performance
Carrie & Lowell debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200 with 53,000 equivalent album units; it sold 51,000 copies in its first week, with the remainder of its unit count reflecting the album's streaming activity and track sales. The album also debuted at number 10 on the Canadian Albums Chart with sales of 4,400. As of July 2015, Carrie & Lowell has sold 105,000 copies in the United States, with 44,900 of its total having been sold in the vinyl configuration.
Critical reception
Carrie & Lowell received critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album has received an average score of 90, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 40 reviews. Andrew Hannah of The 405 proclaimed that "Carrie & Lowell is just the latest in a long line of unimpeachable achievements." In his review for Pitchfork Media, writer Brandon Stosuy wrote, "Sufjan Stevens' new album, Carrie & Lowell, is his best." Stephen Carlick of Exclaim! called the record "a quietly triumphant return for Stevens, announced not by fireworks but by a series of small, elegant moments that reach for the heart." UK retailer HMV named it the best album of 2015.
Track listing
All tracks written by Sufjan Stevens.
Songs
1Death With Dignity3:59
2Should Have Known Better5:06
3All of Me Wants All of You3:41