Sufjan Stevens - Death with Dignity

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I liked him years ago. This is ok, but very bland. Nothing at all stands out.

I have probably listened to this album around 15 times since I bought it 5 days ago. my favorite tracks are "should have known better" and "the only thing". these tracks are so personal and meaningful that I have a shed a tear while listening. probably adding this to my top 10 albums, I enjoy it more than words can express. the feeling I get while listening is an indescribable mixture of nostalgia and grief.

Truly extraordinary .. Thank you dear Sufjan...

I'm completely in love with this record. More than any other he's done. Not a single track is weak. They are all stunning.

Your music is like swimming in pudding!

This is a masterpiece. Sufjan is struggling to come to terms with his deceased and estranged mother, and this is a matured musician coming to terms with death, all while celebrating life. Sufjan is one of the best living songwriters of our times, and this short album is a testament to his abilities. If you loved "John Wayne Gacy Jr." off of Illinois, then "Eugene" is your new favourite song, followed by "All of me wants all of you". "Fourth of July" is simply the most beautiful song about death I've ever heard. I'm glad Sufjan returned to his folk roots, and can't wait to hear these songs live.

I simply had no other choice than to comment on the beauty of this album. It will tear you apart, in the best way.

Sad, beautiful, triumphant, anthemic, and more. Love this album

When it comes to music, I've been living in the past lately, searching out some of best of the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods. I've been ingesting a steady diet of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, and other masters, almost exclusively for the last few monts. Part of the reason for my retreat into the sounds of centuries gone by has been the disappointment I've felt with the majority of musical artists and bands of today. There seems to be very little innovation happening in the genres of pop, rock, and country music; and even hip hop, which has seemed to break more new ground in the last decade, doesn't seem the creative bastion it once was. Most songs and albums fashioned within the industry today share a lot of similarities with junk food: they're wrapped in inviting packaging; they sound sweet at the very first taste, and they have all the substance and accompanying satisfaction of cotton candy. So, I had gone off looking for something more nourishing and had found it in the olds works. About two weeks ago, I heard an early release from Sufjan Steven's upcoming album (I've subsequently listened to the entire work). The song is "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross." I heard in that song--with such sparse accompaniment but such lush vocal arrangement--the transcendent beauty of Bach. In its yearning for meaning and solace, in its transparent pleading to a God that seems veiled, I heard the voices of those that once filled St. Blasius and St. Thomas. Bach was the preeminant musical innovator of his time, and I don't believe it's a stretch to say that Stevens now stands with very few others who could bear that mantle. No one who knows music would dare diminish Bach's groudbreaking work, simply because a great deal of it was composed for the organ and played in church services. In the same way, I find it asinine that some modern critics of music--professional or otherwise--would seek to diminish the importance of Stevens's music because it often falls into the less-appreciated genres of folk or electronic. Sufjan writes songs of substance, and he composes albums that stand as works of art. I really don't think it matters a great deal to him which genre encompasses them. I wouldn't either, if I was writing the most beautiful and heartbreaking music on the planet today.

Buy it.

This is the saddest, most beautiful album.

This album is different from the rest. It's perhaps his best to date. The albums of orchestral masterpieces and electronic freakouts are gone this time around, replaced by the clean plucking of a guitar accompanied on occasion by a piano and always by Sufjan's sweet, sweet whisper. Blended tastefully with electronic additives, this album is his most beautiful, refined sound, paired with poignant lyrics that will make you smile as they tear you apart. His best album yet is here, and it's definitely worth the listen. Well done, Subaru. :)

First to answer your question Christopher no this is not what hipsters listen to! I'm not a hipster and I listened to this album and I think it is fantastic! Second, I love his voice, I think it's unique and kinda cool! Second, of all the guy that says meh- just stop! You kinda just stopped trying to Sufjan "Subaru" Stevens. In conclusion Sufjan Stevens is an amazing artist and has a fantastic voice! So everyone who disagrees can shut the hell up! Have a nice day!

Thank you for taking us to a place none of us like to go, and taking us there gracefully.

this album is truly great! Just as good as all his other albums ! indie-folk is where he truly shines :)

I have listened to the npr release of this album a dozen times. It is among his best.

I've been a fan of Sufjan since before he even recorded. He played a show at my college about 17 years ago...I loved his music then, but he has outdone himself with this incredibly beautiful album. Well done Sufjan...it's perfect.

This has to be one of the most beautiful albums I have ever listened to. This is my favorite album of his because it's the most emotionally open Sufjan has ever been.

I appreciate you giving your pain a voice that translates into joy for so many!! Thank you so much!

Really an incredible piece of art. Not many people can take their deepest sentiments and emotions and turn them in to art as clearly and beautifully and Sufjan Stevens does in this album. Do him a solid and buy the thing.

Sufjan has created a truly beautiful collection of songs that lament the loss of his mother-- a parental figure that remained distant his entire life. The intimate ruminations that are these songs depict a soaring level of emotions, ranging from pain, sorrow, hope, and reconciliation. The depth of songwriting here makes this album an absolutely devastating listen, one which I highly endorse and recommend to anyone who has ever experienced the loss of a loved one. I digress a little, though, since the songs speak for themselves as among the most beautiful you're likely to hear this year. Highly recommended!

This man is keening for the death of his mother. And he’s allowing us to listen. Guts defined. This is the most universal of all of his albums—he constantly gives access, not veiling anything. It will rip your heart apart. I used to think Tom Waits’ “Martha” was untouchable as the saddest song ever written and performed. I stand corrected. “Fourth of July” now owns that title in my eyes.

This is a work of art and pure sound that kisses your ears

I wish I had enough money to buy the whole album. These songs are so amazing, and beautiful. The lyrics are absolutely beautiful as well. That free song was a bonus. I love the soft voice.😍😍😍

Carrie & Lowell is as close to perfection as any artist can achieve. From the musicianship to the melodies, lyrics, harmonies, arrangements and production, all are combined in a perfect and intimate harmony rarely achieved. Listen to the record, buy the record, and you'll see exactly what I mean!

I found it listening to this album. Thank you Mr. Stevens.

I have been a fan of Sufjan since the Michigan album. Always thought Seven Swans was my favorite of his. But wow this album is a masterpiece for me. Every song is brilliant. The lyrics are so good and his vocals are perfection. Sad albums always make me happy for some reason and this one makes me very very happy. It reminds me a lot of Elliott Smiths self titled blue album which is one of my favorite albums of all time. Thank you Sufjan for my favorite album of the year. Its ruining my life in the best possible way.

I was obsessed with just the early stream of this album. 'Fourth of July', 'Only Thing' and 'Eugene' are all single-worthy. I liked every song and plan to continue to listen to this as a complete album and not single tracks (beauty having it be 45 mins). Purchase and go see him live. Thanks Sufjan.

This album is real. Eugene>Fourth of July.

Simultaneously beautiful and heartbreaking.

I've become quite the religious Sufjan fan over the past couple of years and have looked forward to the release of this album with high anticipation, magnified by the releases of "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross" and "Should Have Known Better". Although the album leaked some month or so before March 31st, I chose to wait to listen to the album in its entirety until I received my vinyl. The opening track, "Death with Dignity", nearly brought me to tears. Its soaring vocal lines quivered with the emotion of a shattered man's longing. The tender "electronic breakdown" in "Should Have Known Better" was familiar and heartwarming amidst so much pain and grief. Sufjan hasn't held anything back or attempted to speak through theatrics or bells and whistles found in The Age of Adz. It seems he has both exposed himself and come to terms with who he really his through the tragedy of his mother's loss. Carrie and Lowell is raw, untouched emotion in the best sense. This may be my favorite record yet, perhaps even more so than Illinois. Absolute beauty.

This is definitely Sufjan's (Soviet Stevens? Swashbuckler Stevens? Swifferjet Stevens? Soup Yams Stevens? idk) most intimate album, definitely a depart from the grand sounds of the past two albums and more stripped down than Michigan. The music is almost ethereal, and the meaning behind it is just as much of a complex masterpiece as is to be expected from Sufjan. I personally am thankful for this because of a fairly similar situation I've been going through recently, and just to have someone that I grew up with describing what we're both going through in such beautiful form is awe-inspiring. I'm glad he's become more comfortable with his own music to release something so personal (especially since that documentary was cancelled), and this is definitely an album that has to be heard scores of times to get close to fully appreciating. I'm not sure what Sufjan has planned for the future to continue growing as an artist, but I have a feeling I'll still be stuck deep in Carrie & Lowell then.

Ahh back to the sufjan Stevens + iron & wine sound alas the sound like classic Sufjan Stevens. A shockingly different beat than Age Of Adz but familiar

Really no one in music is making music like Sufjan Stevens. I grew up to all of his albums. This album is Sufjan at his most pure.

He does it again.

Sufjan is clearly one of the great musical (and literary) talents of our time. Beautiful music, universal and poetic lyrics. I love his over-the-top stuff, but this album and "Seven Swans" are his true masterpieces.

Sufjan Stevens is my favorite artist. Period. His music is the most beautiful I have ever heard, and this album goes back to his roots, and his original genre. He could not be better. Highly reccomend

This album itself is created so brilliantly. There's not a single moment of disappointment. This album is all raw emotion

“What is that song, you sing for the dead?” If we handled grief with simple exchanges, we would approach funeral parlors with delicate flutters, we would trade them in for truth. When made tangible those flutters may replicate the heart of a hummingbird. Then, when tangible, we would be given stones, for that truth. This is what Sufjan Stevens does in his album Carrie & Lowell. He trades in flutters for truth, hummingbird hearts for stones. He does it with the softest hands. We can hear it, the finger picking kept busy like tears down the throat of those in mourning. Sufjan, however, seems to insist, instead, that our throats are made of rain sticks. And that this crying, it is a beautiful sound. Departing from the brightly colored extravaganza of 2010’s Age of Adz, Sufjan returns to the white robes of his 2004 album Seven Swans. Though he would probably just tell you this is what he needed. I think it is also what a lot of people need. It is easily, also, so much more. Towards the end of “Should have known better” the second track, Sufjan sings, “My brother had a daughter The beauty that she brings, illumination” And I swear, this is when we trade in the stones- for live hummingbirds. I would hate to hear these songs in a venue with standing room only. Because they take you down. They pelt you with the softest, heaviest, most brilliant feathers. I would play them at a funeral, with the greatest respect for the dead. And some at a birth, in hopes they welcomed this new heart with a gentle soundtrack to sleep, to live, to love, to exchange flutters for stones and vice-versa to. These lines from Track 6, titled Fourth of July, they transcend poetry. “…Sitting at the bed with the halo at your head Was it all a disguise, like Junior High Where everything was fiction, future, and prediction Now where am I? My fading supply “Did you get enough love, my little dove Why do you cry? And I’m sorry I left, but it was for the best Though it never felt right My little Versailles.” The hospital asked should the body be cast Before I say goodbye, my star in the sky Such a funny thought to wrap you up in cloth Do you find it all right, my dragonfly? “Shall we look at the moon, my little loon Why do you cry? Make the most of your life, while it is rife While it is light” I highly urge you to give this priceless album a listen. Especially if you are dealing with a loss, or a gift.

After the first listen i realized I could take each song and fit it somewhere in my past or present. Incredible how he is able to share his life and express his feelings so beautifully without fear. The lyrics are part of it but as always his music speaks and expresses.

Just simply beautiful.

Really....You people giving this 5 stars. My dog won't even howl to it. Terrible!

Wow. I've always been a sideline fan of Sufjan, usually feeling his albums are hit or miss, or too busy... But this. This album is such a wreaking ball of emotion, so well brought about in both lyric and sound. It's his most complete and riveting album, in my opinion, which is both worthy of celebration and reverence. In spite of feeling sorrow for his pain, I feel like Sufjan really graced us with a gift by so intimately sharing his ambivalent journey with us. I notice in the video release of "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross" there are images of waves crashing on a beach. These songs also have a wave-like pattern in sound: each beautiful and repetitive, only subtly shifting throughout the songs. To me, the wave symbolism represents the fleeting reality of life, with each wave representing another life ending. Perhaps it's just my interpretation, but this album is leaving me feeling pretty inspired. While full of sorrow, I think an album such as this can be life-affirming as it reminds you to appreciate those you love while you still can. Thank you, Sufjan.

This album is absolutely beautiful.

With simple but beautiful guitar picking, piano, and an angelic whisper of a singing voice, Sufjan Stevens delivers one of the most bare and personal albums you're ever likely to hear. Enter: Sufjan Stevens.

I had never heard Sufjan Stevens, but was looking for some new Christian music that related more to real Christian life (not that I don’t love worship), and this was exactly what I was looking for. His lyrics are real and relatable, and brought to your ears in the form of angelic strings and soft melodies. Lately I’ve been going through a little depression, and most of the songs did not help to uplift me, however I related very much to the existential words in “The Only Thing”. As someone who is terrible at capturing emotion in writing, I found his abilities powerful.

Sufjan has crafted an exquisite song-cycle that delivers his heartfelt message from beginning to end; not a mis-step to be found !!!!!! Six Stars ****** In a perfect world THIS should be album of the year 2015 - it is THAT special 🙏

this is some of Sufjan Stevens' best work yet and its so full of emotion.

What a stunning and emotional album. Not a sentimental trip at all but a layered and beautiful album about the life of a very sad and complicated relationship with a parent. I’ve listened to the first two tracks over and over and they get me every time. I can’t think of an album that’s moved me as much as this one.

Kind Of Music I Like Hiking To🙌 Can't Wait For This Summer!

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