Sufjan Stevens embraces imperfection to paint moving family portrait
By Nika Korchok | April 6With an intimacy that is at times both jarring and comforting, Sufjan Stevens once again lets listeners into his private, imperfect world, allowing flaws to shine through to create an album with dimension and honesty. On his seventh studio album, “Carrie & Lowell,” released March 27, Stevens spends 43 minutes addressing themes of his youth and dissecting family relationships with a calculated hand that is often unforgiving in the portraits it paints. The album cover itself features a photo of Stevens’ mother and stepfather, and he spends the majority, if not the entirety, of the album delving into the relationships he had with both. Most specifically, the album addresses Stevens' complex relationship with his mother, who died of stomach cancer in 2012.
