Sufjan Stevens - The Ascension ALBUM REVIEW

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I’m entering brand new territory for myself with this review. I’ve always known about Sufjan Stevens, and I’ve only listened to one of his albums. If you’re a fan of his, you can assume that it’s Carrie & Lowell, Stevens’ somber masterpiece that is one of my favorite indie records ever. Funny enough, I could never get into his other records. They just haven’t hit as hard as Carrie & Lowell, and while I do understand the different sound he was going for on his other releases, I just connected so well with Carrie & Lowell that it was tough for me to like his other projects. Five years after his Carrie & Lowell, which was his last solo effort, Sufjan now has The Ascension. As I mentioned earlier, this is a new territory for me because The Ascension has a more electronic flavor to the music while Carrie & Lowell was much more indie and acoustic. Either way, that’s useless information. I’m hoping I like it. Let’s get right into The Ascension.

The Ascension is an indie album with electronic, pop, and ambient influences. I have one major gripe about this, and I don’t think I would’ve ever said that about Sufjan’s music, but many of the songs here kinda sound the same. Yes, I know, that may not be a valid point to some people, but it also depends on the quality of the music. Stevens has been known for making high quality music, and it’s proven on albums like Illinoise and the aforementioned Carrie & Lowell, but I just did not feel the same about The Ascension. I like the instrumentals here quite a bit, though. They’re bright and ambient, hence the ambient influence, and I think it sounds dreamy, but that’s a theme here that gets tired eventually, especially with this being an 80+ minute record. Sufjan’s horribly underwhelming performances also hurt this album quite a bit. He just sounds so bored and monotone while singing this, and it just seems like he’s rambing more than pouring his heart out. I don’t even think I could pick a favorite song from this because it’s all so unbalanced that I kinda don’t wanna go back to this record.

Wow, I felt very divided on The Ascension. While I do like the airy and dream-like compositions and even some of the writing, the performance by Sufjan Stevens here just does not live up to the hype. He’s honestly had a rough 2020, though. I don’t blame him, but this just is not it, Chief.


4/10


Stream The Ascension here

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