Javelin
by Sufjan Stevens

From HoldenM TOP 100 COMMENTER 10/06/2023 22:51 | #299387 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Having listened to it thrice today, and knowing the impetus for the record, Javelin stands as Sufjan Stevens's most open-hearted and devastating work to date, even more so than the thorny beauty of his magnificent Carrie & Lowell. Elegiac, wounded, and life-affirming through and through, Javelin is characteristically meditative and soulful, while crystalizing the folktronica sensibilities that he's wrestled with over the years into its most moving configurations yet, and that, despite its weight, is still so warm and inviting. One of the best from one of the best ever to do it. (Edited)

This sounds like an amalgamation of several of his albums to date. You can hear the sounds of Carrie and Lowell, Illinois, Age of Adz, and Seven Swans easily throughout the whole album. This is really his first real album since Seven Swans in his early work where he hasn’t taken an entirely new sonic route for a new album. It’s very good but doesn’t have the originality and intense creativity of his past work. It’s a great album but far from his best but I’ll give him plenty of leeway considering all he’s been through recently. All love to Sufjan :) (Edited)

Never been able to get into any of his albums I don't know why but I find his voice irritable , he mumbles through most of his songs , this is real hipster crap , typical American rubbish like wilco and animal collective , one for the namby pamby snowflakes , gout would be more fun than listening to this (Edited)

His best work since Carrie & Lowell. Delicate, powerful and heartwrenching. AOTY candidate, to me. (Edited)

For me, Sufjan’s thirteenth studio offering perfectly matches in mood its autumnal release date. Sonically, it is almost ‘folklore’-esque at times and I found it to be the perfect musical accomplice for making apple crumble during one cold afternoon late in October. This quality sits in juxtaposition with the emotive, personal lyric writing, conveying the trauma he’s experienced during the last year or so. Overall, I think this contrast is what makes for a very good album, if not an all time classic. (Edited)