Sufjan Stevens – Beacon Theatre – April 11th – With the album of the year under Sufjan’s belt, here he was performing it live on stage and you could have heard a pin drop, a magnificent performance of (mostly) an album that changes what the term “confessional” means
Carrie And Lowell – Sufjan Stevens – His mother left Sufjan when he was three maybe four, and again, and again, and then she died, and left Stevens to deal with it by writing the most equisitely beautiful album of this or many years.
Though what Stevens realizes is, he is his mother’s son, some of what hurt her he has in him, the same lostness that moved her neglect moves his inability to break the distance. On stage at the Beacon Theatre, Stevens didn’t breakthrough, didn’t save her, himself or us. It was just a concert, after all.
That is a question that goes to the heart of our insecurities, it is the unanswerable, unequivicable question between adults and children. Do you love me? Really? Do you love me enough? How much? How often? Why? Why not? Carrie And Lowell has no answers for Sufjan or us, but it has the right questions, and the right concerns and that is so rare, so important. It illuminates who we are.
Fourth Of July – Sufjan Stevens – From a contender for album of the year, Stevens mourns his recently dead Mom and all he can say to comfort himself is “we’re all gonna die”. Cold comfort, right? But I know where he is coming from – A
A memento mori for the Mom he barely knew, this softly acoustic folk album conjures the ghost of Elliott Smith to show how beautifully you can sing about the saddest things. I never really liked Sufjan but I could be wrong, you know – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-
