The Ascension
by Sufjan Stevens

From Vatsal TOP 100 COMMENTER 09/30/2020 18:38 | #258881 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I have been in awe of this album this past week. I don't think its on the level of Illinois but I also think its unreasonable to always compare an artist's output with their opus. As a piece of music in the grand design of Sufjan's world though, this album has delivered spectacularly. The way you can draw a thematic line between Carrie and Lowell and this album through everything he released between them is, I believe, the most underappreciated thing about Sufjan's discography. Its just sooo delicate, almost surgically precise.. and it has landed so beautifully, so theatrically on this excellent album. Its masterful. A fulfilled vision of an artist in complete control of his art.

There is no one making music right now, who is in the same league as Sufjan. I don't mean that he's that good that no one can touch him (though he makes a solid case for it), but the way he has a handle on his career and his sound and the unhinged, unrestricted creative vision he displays. Its a treat to be witnessing his music career in real time. (Edited)

Torn between the consumerist world we live in and his morality, Sufjan Stevens has never sounded more troubled. This is a big statement considering his previous album Carrie & Lowell addressed his mother’s passing with devastating solemnity. The Ascension however is a collage of how he and broadly speaking the populous, is at a crossroads as to how they survive in this modern world. A very relevant concept to explore and he does so with his most simplistic lyrics to date. This may be a problem for longtime fans and at times it is for me. However he still showcases his renowned poetics namely on the title track and Video Game. The music is some of his most chaotic and beautiful within a matter of minutes. This can be jarring for the listener and it’s noteworthy to add that some of the experiments like the mantra “Die Happy” or the drawn out “Ativan” could have done with some trimming. Regardless this is a relevant and inventive piece in an already astounding catalogue from one of the 21st centuries best songwriters.
Highlights: “Run Away With Me”, “Video Game”, “Landslide”, “The Ascension” and “America”.

From HoldenM TOP 100 COMMENTER 09/29/2020 22:02 | #258869 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

You know, it's certainly a lot of album. And I'll even go so far as to say that none of it is bad or necessarily boring. At a certain point, though, it overstays its welcome. There are some tracks in the middle that you could cut without undermining the album as a whole.

WITH THAT IN MIND, this is still an exceptional and inspired collection of songs, and probably the best--or at least the most listenable--of Sufjan's glitch odysseys.

I'm not really fond of Sufjan's electropop side, I noticed it with The Age of Adz and it's happening with this album again. It's like the delicate and breathtaking intimacy he delivers in a folk environment can't be as easily achieved here (with some remarkable exceptions). This being said, I still enjoy some of the songs individually, while the record as a whole it turns not bad but definitely long and boring.

From lleon79 TOP 100 COMMENTER 09/25/2020 05:10 | #258687 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

The absolute madman just released record of the year, decade and his entire career. Absolutely astonishing.