Carrie & Lowell


Carrie & Lowell is the seventh studio album by American musician Sufjan Stevens, released through Asthmatic Kitty on March 31, 2015. Unlike Stevens's previous studio album, the electronic The Age of Adz, Carrie & Lowell is sparsely instrumental and marks a return to the performer's indie folk roots. The album was given a one-week preview on NPR.
The album was released to high critical acclaim, with many critics calling it Stevens' best. Carrie & Lowell was widely deemed one of the best albums of 2015.
The album was inspired by the death of Stevens' mother Carrie, with the title referring to her and her second husband Lowell Brams.

Recording

The songs on the album were recorded in 2014 at Stevens' office in Dumbo, Brooklyn and Pat Dillett's studio in Midtown Manhattan. Some of the songs were also recorded in Oregon, at Portland's Flora Recording & Playback and on an iPhone in a Klamath Falls hotel room. A few songs were also tracked in Oklahoma, at Norman's Blackwatch Studios, and in Wisconsin, at Eau Claire's April Base Studios. The songs were inspired by the 2012 death of his mother, Carrie, and the family trips they took to Oregon in Stevens' childhood. Stevens' mother, who suffered from depression, schizophrenia, and substance abuse, abandoned him when he was a year old. According to Stevens, recording the album helped him come to terms with her death and provide closure. The album title also references his stepfather, Lowell, who helped co-found Stevens' record company Asthmatic Kitty.
The album was produced by Thomas Bartlett, known as Doveman, a musician and friend of Stevens who had recently lost a brother to cancer. Of Bartlett's production role, Stevens said, "Thomas took all these sketches and made sense of it all. He called me out on my bullshit. He said: 'These are your songs. This is your record.' He was ruthless." In the same interview, on the emotions in the album's recording process, Stevens said:

Commercial performance

Carrie & Lowell debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200 with 53,000 equivalent album units; it sold 51,000 copies in its first week, with the remainder of its unit count reflecting the album's streaming activity and track sales. The album also debuted at number 10 on the Canadian Albums Chart with sales of 4,400. As of July 2015, Carrie & Lowell has sold 105,000 copies in the United States, with 44,900 of its total having been sold in the vinyl configuration.
As of June 2017 it was certified silver by British Phonographic Industry for 60,000 sold units in UK.

Critical reception

Carrie & Lowell received critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album has received an average score of 90, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 40 reviews. Andrew Hannah of The 405 proclaimed that "Carrie & Lowell is just the latest in a long line of unimpeachable achievements." In his review for Pitchfork, writer Brandon Stosuy wrote, "Sufjan Stevens' new album, Carrie & Lowell, is his best." Stephen Carlick of Exclaim! called the record "a quietly triumphant return for Stevens, announced not by fireworks but by a series of small, elegant moments that reach for the heart." Writing for The Boston Globe, James Reed praised the album's lyrics as well as the instrumentation, writing that he would listen to just the instrumentals.
PublicationAccoladeYearRank
The A.V. ClubThe 15 Best Albums of 201520153
The A.V. ClubThe 50 Best Albums of the 2010s201915
The GuardianThe 50 Best Albums of 201520152
The GuardianThe 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century201937
Musica NetoThe 100 Best Albums of 201520151
NMENME'S Albums of the Year 2015201524
PitchforkThe 50 Best Albums of 201520156
PitchforkReaders' Top 50 Albums20152
PitchforkThe 200 Best Albums of the 2010s201917
HMVBest of the Year 201520151
Rough TradeAlbums of the Year 2015201512
StereogumThe 50 Best Albums of 201520155
OORAlbum of the Year20151

Track listing

All tracks written by Sufjan Stevens.
  1. "Death with Dignity" – 4:00
  2. "Should Have Known Better" – 5:08
  3. "All of Me Wants All of You" – 3:41
  4. "Drawn to the Blood" – 3:18
  5. "Eugene" – 2:26
  6. "Fourth of July" – 4:40
  7. "The Only Thing" – 4:44
  8. "Carrie & Lowell" – 3:14
  9. "John My Beloved" – 5:03
  10. "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross" – 2:40
  11. "Blue Bucket of Gold" – 4:44

    Personnel

Performance
Technical personnel
Carrie & Lowell Live is a live album and concert film released on April 28, 2017 through Asthmatic Kitty. It was recorded live at North Charleston Performing Arts Center, South Carolina on November 9, 2015 during the Carrie & Lowell Tour. The performance was filmed and produced by We Are Films and features many new interpretations, re-workings, and expansions of the songs from Carrie & Lowell. The full concert film was made available to stream for free on Vimeo and YouTube.
  1. "Redford " – 3:27
  2. "Death with Dignity" – 4:07
  3. "Should Have Known Better" – 6:04
  4. "All of Me Wants All of You" – 6:30
  5. "John My Beloved" – 5:49
  6. "The Only Thing" – 5:42
  7. "Fourth of July" – 6:41
  8. "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross" – 3:34
  9. "Carrie & Lowell" – 4:38
  10. "Drawn to the Blood" – 4:27
  11. "Eugene" – 2:52
  12. "Vesuvius" – 8:14
  13. "Futile Devices" – 3:36
  14. "Blue Bucket of Gold" – 5:35
  15. "Blue Bucket Outro" – 12:46
  16. "Hotline Bling" – 4:44

    Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications