Carrie and Lowell [Digipak]

Rating

Album: Carrie and Lowell [Digipak]
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Death With Dignity	More Info...	0:04
2)	Should Have Known Better	More Info...	0:05
3)	All of Me Wants All of You	More Info...	0:03
4)	Drawn to the Blood	More Info...	0:03
5)	Eugene	More Info...	0:02
6)	Fourth of July	More Info...	0:04
7)	The Only Thing	More Info...	0:04
8)	Carrie & Lowell	More Info...	0:03
9)	John My Beloved	More Info...	0:05
10)	No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross	More Info...	0:02
11)	Blue Bucket of Gold	More Info...	0:04

Performer Notes

Audio Mixers: Pat Dillet; Sufjan Stevens; Thomas Bartlett.
Recording information: April Base, Eau Claire, WI; Black Watch, Norman, OK; Flora, Portland, OR; Klamath Falls, OR; Pat Dillet's Studio, Manhattan; Surfjan's Office, Dumbo, Brooklyn.
Nothing truly prepares anyone for the loss of a parent. No matter how aware one may be about the realities of disease and death, no matter what their attitude about their mother or father, experiencing the passing of the person who brought them into this world hits hard and deep, and the survivors are left to come to terms with their pain in their own ways. Sufjan Stevens is a songwriter and a musician, so it should come as no surprise that in the wake of the death of his mother Carrie in 2012, his grief took the form of a collection of songs. But 2015's Carrie & Lowell is not a simple homage to Stevens' mother and stepfather. Stevens had a difficult relationship with his mother that would defy a simple farewell; she left his father when Stevens was just a year old, and she was a random presence throughout much of his childhood. While there's deep and genuine love in Carrie & Lowell, there's also uncertainty, sadness, and brief but jagged bursts of anger; these songs speak of loss and heartache and the difficult push and pull of familial relationships, but they're also full of random memories, both pleasant and troubling, and they leap from reveries of family vacations faded by the passing of decades, to the immediate regrets of what was or wasn't said and done in the aftermath of death. Carrie & Lowell is about memory as much as mourning, and Stevens has drawn these songs in a purposefully elegant manner, with his introspection accompanied by beautiful but homespun melodies, and the arrangements and production only magnifying their dreamlike, whisper-quiet drift that strikes with an emotional force that a louder, more violent approach could not achieve. Carrie & Lowell is a heartfelt expression of love that is devoid of the slightest hint of sentimentality, and with these songs, Stevens strips his emotions bare and allows us all to be the audience for his anger, shame, and sense of loss as he pages through his memories of his family. Carrie & Lowell is the most harrowingly personal work Stevens has offered us to date; it also ranks with his most skillfully crafted albums despite its spartan approach, and it's a sometimes difficult but profoundly moving work. Stevens has offered us some fine albums in the past, but he's never made anything quite like Carrie & Lowell. ~ Mark Deming

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[H]e joins Nick Drake and Elliott Smith in the canon of artists who channel suicidal thoughts into impossibly pretty songs. Stevens strips his sound far enough to reveal his deepest anguish..."

Spin - "All throughout, the music manages to be both pleasant and devastating. Stevens still commandeers a plethora of instruments, and recorded a lot of the album by himself..."

Entertainment Weekly - "With its quiet meditations on mental illness, God, and death, CARRIE is a hauntingly beautiful bummer." -- Grade: A-

Paste (magazine) - "[A]n album less about the individual songs and more about the places that the songs take us, the questions that are asked, the irrefutable truths revealed, and the way all these elements work together."

Pitchfork (Website) - "This record is a return to the sparse folk of Seven Swans, but with a decade's worth of honing and exploration packed into it. It already feels like his most classic and pure effort."

Clash (magazine) - "[A]n album of memories and stories....It's heavy, but so very beautiful."

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Other Retailer	Price Checked Time	Their Price in AUD	Our Price
Amazon UK	yesterday	52.1	$18.21	You save $33.89
Amazon US	today	34.71	$18.21	You save $16.50

Other Retailer	Price Checked Time	Their Price in AUD	Our Price
Amazon UK	yesterday	52.1	$18.21	You save $33.89
Amazon US	today	34.71	$18.21	You save $16.50