“Sufjan Stevens delivers a passionate plea for love through Javelin”
“The Detroit indie hero returns to singer/songwriter mode for magnificent, riveting and gorgeous songs of sacrifice”
“Any attempt to determine what an album is ‘about’ risks overlooking a skilled songwriter’s ability to fuse fact and fiction and obfuscate the origins of their inspiration. This is certainly the case for Sufjan Stevens, who has often preferred to maintain a safe distance from the stereotypical singer-songwriter’s transparent first-person confessionals. Although the lyrics of Javelin hardly read li”
“Sufjan’s masterful new album recalls his intimate singer-songwriter days. But it also draws on his entire catalog, his dazzling musicality, and his lifelong inquiries about love and devotion.”
“Javelin is indeed a wondrous meeting of the human and the synthetic, of stripped-down immediacy and lush, impressionistic extravagance.”
“Sufjan Stevens is no stranger to suffering: witness Carrie & Lowell, which outlined a complex relationship with his bipolar mother. In the wake of his 2021 ambient outing, Convocations, which processed the death of his father, Javelin – Stevens’s 10th LP – finds him grappling with existential questions (a regular concern), the desire to kiss and be kissed, and a broken heart. Will Anybody Ever Lov”
