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Béla Czene

"Sufjan Stevens Announces Carrie & Lowell - 10th Anniversary Edition – Out May 30 

This May, Asthmatic Kitty Records celebrates the ten-year anniversary of Carrie & Lowell with an expanded double-LP album that includes seven previously unreleased bonus tracks, a 40-page art book, and a new essay by Sufjan Stevens. The deluxe edition also offers an alternative cover: a full-framed version of the original Polaroid zoomed out to reveal the photo’s caption written in a child’s handwriting—“Carrie & Lowell”—disclosing the source of the album title (it was written by Sufjan's sister Djamilah). The new edition was designed by Sufjan himself: the 40-page booklet contains various collages of vintage family photos spanning four generations interfused with artwork and drawings (on themes of death, dying, grief and the state of Oregon) as well as landscape photos Sufjan took while traveling across the western U.S. over a decade ago.

The original album is preserved on disc one, while disc two contains 40 minutes of extras, including demo versions of "Death With Dignity," "Should Have Known Better," "The Only Thing," and "Eugene". Expansive outtakes of "Fourth of July" and "Wallowa Lake Monster" are also included, both featuring a more cinematic mood. The final gem is the original demo of "Mystery of Love”, which was recorded around the same time as Carrie & Lowell. This song was scrapped for the album but later re-worked and re-recorded for Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name.

Carrie & Lowell was the result of an immensely difficult process in which Sufjan’s songwriting – usually a salve – failed him in the wake of his mother’s death. He was eventually led out of a cycle of creative doubt with a rare handover of production duties to Thomas Bartlett. In wrestling with darkness and devastation, life and death, Sufjan was eventually able to begin making sense of the beauty and ugliness of love.

Sufjan toured the album and personally connected his findings with his listeners, a beautiful hand-over of sorts happened - making these songs those of the listeners and their lives and losses and complexities.Since the album’s release the live tour was turned into a live album, so surprisingly celebratory and cathartic as to become something else entirely. Outtakes, remixes, and iPhone notes have been shared via Sufjan’s The Greatest Gift mixtape as well as a collection of “Fourth of July” versions that took one moment from the album and explored its every crevice.

Ten years on, this anniversary edition does things differently to those other treasures. Rather than deconstructing the album or building on it and continuing its legacy, this edition takes the listener back to the moments leading up to and including its release. Carrie & Lowell is presented in its full form once again, alongside a glimpse of the different roads it could have taken. There are new corners to explore, photographic realising of moments previously only lyrically painted, direct reflection from the album’s creator, subtly different weight on certain syllables that speak to Sufjan’s mind right before he shared it with the world.

Carrie & Lowell -10th Anniversary Edition Tracklist

Disc 1:

1. Death with Dignity 2. Should Have Known Better 3. All of Me Wants All of You 4. Drawn To the Blood 5. Eugene 6. Fourth of July 7. The Only Thing 8. Carrie & Lowell 9. John My Beloved 10. No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross 11. Blue Bucket of Gold

Disc 2:

Death with Dignity (Demo)

Should Have Known Better (Demo)

Eugene (Demo)

The Only Thing (Demo)

Mystery Of Love (Demo)

Wallowa Lake Monster (Version 2)

Fourth of July (Version 4)

Carrie & Lowell - 10th Anniversary Edition is now available to pre-order / pre-save here. All pre-orders will include a lyric postcard featuring artwork designed by Sufjan. 

“Mystery of Love” may be widely known from the film Call Me By Your Name, but it began as an early demo during the Carrie & Lowell era. Now released as the first single from Carrie & Lowell – 10th Anniversary Edition, this version presents the song in its original, intimate form.

Video directed and produced by Rena Johnson. Original artwork and select photos by Sufjan Stevens. Archival photos and 8mm film provided by Sufjan Stevens and additional assets provided by Rena Johnson.

Ten years of 'Carrie & Lowell'. Explore the full story in our new comprehensive archive, featuring 'Carrie & Lowell 'and its six companion releases. Photos, video, essays and other materials, gathered in one place for the first time.

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