Sufjan Stevens, who has never made the same record twice, is hardly going to start repeating himself now. Since 1999, the Detroit singer has authored 10 studio albums of audacious alternative folk, lo-fi, electronica, indie pop, baroque pop, chamber pop, folk pop, and whatever you’re having yourself pop. Let’s not even get started on the collaborative albums.
His voice is like the loudest, most comforting whisper you will ever hear and full of tenderness and vulnerability, in cascades of words that show his unique lyrical ingenuity and dexterity. The production is pristine, bursting with ideas and unveiling lush soundscapes, and that’s just on the opening track.
Unfortunately, the release of Javelin is accompanied by the news that Stevens has been diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder called Guillain-Barré syndrome, which effectively means he has to relearn how to walk.
Successful treatment to date has halted his condition deteriorating, giving him a very strong chance of a full recovery.
I went to the cinema to see Small Things Like These. By the time I emerged I had concluded the film was crap
Jack Reynor: ‘We were in two minds between eloping or going the whole hog but we got married in Wicklow with about 220 people’
Forêt restaurant review: A masterclass in French classic cooking in Dublin 4
Charlene McKenna: ‘Within three weeks, I turned 40, had my first baby and lost my father’
This makes tender tracks about unconditional love like Will Anybody Ever Love Me? all the more emotionally potent, topped off with an intricate custom-made lute called a guitalin.
The music world loves Sufjan Stevens, which is evident by the presence of several friends and contemporaries in Bryce Dessner from the National, Adrienne Maree Brown, Hannah Cohen, Pauline Delassus, Megan Lui and Nedelle Torrisi. Here’s hoping he will get to make at least 10 more albums.