Sufjan Stevens will never be tied down or put in a box as an artist. The renowned musical polymath released his new single “So You Are Tired” on August 14th, previewing his upcoming album Javelin, due out Oct. 6th via his own co-founded label Asthmatic Kitty Records. Stevens has yet to follow up 2015’s Carrie & Lowell with another singer/songwriter style solo project, however his career has been anything but dormant.
So what has Stevens been releasing since then? Literally everything else. 2017 saw four endeavors; two Carrie & Lowell based projects with one being a live album and the other packed with remixes and demos, plus the four-way collaborative album Planetarium. Stevens also provided three tracks for the soundtrack to Call Me By Your Name that November. The following two years brought two collab albums with Timo Andres and stepfather Lowell Brams respectively. The Ascension (2020) was an electronic pop record complete with vocals from Stevens. Following that was a massive, five-disk ambient experiment titled Convocations from 2021, a year that also brought a collaboration album with labelmate Angelo De Augustine. Earlier this year, the three-person collab project Reflections was released, capping off the artist’s slew of diverse ventures.
His new single “So You Are Tired” taps into the soft, poignant atmosphere of Carrie & Lowell, an album whose minimal sound and style maximized the project’s devastating subject matter. The single’s arrangement is made up of piano, acoustic guitar, bass, and various percussion, along with swells of strings and synths, all of which were recorded by Stevens at his home. The choir of background vocals that push the song to new levels is made up of friends and fellow musicians. Stevens sings to a past acquaintance, wondering what it was all for. Each lyrical stanza begins with a statement describing what has happened to his relationship, explaining how his partner has fallen out of love with the things that once brought a fruitful connection between the two.
“So you are tired of even my kiss,” and “So you are dreaming of after / Was it really all just for fun?” are a few of the song’s more heartbreaking lines.
The new album Javelin will be composed of ten tracks, releasing in full on October 6th. Merchandise and physical copies for the album are available now for pre-order through Asthmatic Kitty Records’ website. A special edition Seaweed Ocean Blast vinyl will be sold, along with CDs and branded apparel.
For updates on the album’s rollout and potential tour dates, follow Stevens on social media. To pre-order or pre-save Javelin, visit the artist’s official website. The album’s lead single “So You Are Tired” is available now on all streaming platforms.