Surfjan Stevens – The Age Of Adz

Sufjan Stevens is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Stevens’ sound has been most generally associated with genres such as indie folk, alternative rock, indie rock, indie pop, baroque pop, chamber pop, folk pop, avant-garde folk, lo-fi folk, and electronica. A multi-instrumentalist, Stevens is known for his frequent use of the banjo, but also plays guitar, piano, drums, woodwinds, and several other instruments on his records, layered through the use of multitrack recording. His work is known to explore themes of love, religion, outer space, and grief. The Age of Adz is his sixth album, released on October 2010. The album features heavy use of electronics augmented by orchestration and takes inspiration from the apocalyptic artwork of schizophrenic artist Royal Robertson. Stevens’ use of electronics marked a radical departure from much of his previous work—most notably from Seven Swans and Michigan. Unlike Illinois, the lyrics do not explore events, characters or setting, but deal instead with themes and emotions on a personal level. Critics praised the intimacy of the album and included it on several “best of 2010” lists—including those of Paste, The New York Times and MTV. Commercially, the album gave Stevens his career’s best first-week sales to date and was his highest-charting album to date, peaking at number seven on the Billboard 200.

2 x LP
Includes Download Codes
Label: Asthmatic Kitty Records
Cat. # AKR077