Sufjan Stevens has announced a new solo album, The Ascension, his first since 2015’s Carrie and Lowell. The LP is due out September 25th and follows on the heels of Aporia, an ambient record Stevens made with his stepfather and Asthmatic Kitty co-founder Lowell Brams that was released earlier this year.
The first single from the new album, “America,” isn’t out until July 3rd, but you can view the album art and the full tracklist below, which looks as though it features a few references to other artists: “Run Away With Me” (Carly Rae Jepsen), “Video Game” (Lana Del Rey), and “Landslide” (Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac).
Stevens and Brams released Aporia in March, which included the singles “The Unlimited,” “The Runaround” and “Climb That Mountain.” In April, he collaborated with Angelo De Augustine on the track “Santa Barbara.”
Although The Ascension will be Stevens’ first solo album in five years, he’s been releasing a few one-off singles in the meantime: two songs for 2019’s Pride Month, and the single “Tonya Harding” in 2017. He also collaborated with Nico Muhly, James McAlister and the National’s Bryce Dessner on the album Planetarium, as well as penned the score to Justin Peck’s 2017 ballet The Decalogue, which was later recorded by Timo Anders on the piano and released as an album by the same name in 2019.
Sufjan Stevens, The Ascension Tracklist
1. Make Me an Offer I Cannot Refuse
2. Run Away With Me
3. Video Game
4. Lamentations
5. Tell Me You Love Me
6. Die Happy
7. Ativan
8. Ursa Major
9. Landslide
10. Gilgamesh
11. Death Star
12. Goodbye to All That
13. Sugar
14. The Ascension
15. America
