Well, now that the dust has settled, I think we can all agree on this.

Was that ever a question?

The fact is that Carrie & Lowell sugarcoated tragedy in electronic effects and cleaned up indie folk. The album had no emotional effect on me and I'm sure most because Sufjan seemed clearly stable enough to produce a big budget, multi-instrument, featuring-famous-people album.

Phil doesn't do any of that bullshit and instead leaves it all in front of you to face.

>>71610776
yeah too bad phil forgot to add the good music part

>2014: Benji
>2015: Carrie & Lowell
>2016: ????
>2017: A Crow Looked at Me

>>71610776
He should've just done some slam/beat poetry if he was just gonna talk about >muh feels and not even provide any music
>>71610790
Skeleton Tree

>>71610790
22, A Million

:^)

>>71610782
>>71610815
There's certainly nothing wrong with the music on ACLaM. You're just mad it isn't tryhard avantgarde or super "artsy" music which would have completely ruined the record.

>>71610838
>You're just mad it isn't tryhard avantgarde or super "artsy" music which would have completely ruined the record.
lmao no
he forgot to add the good music. here is an example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7h3bd2YSWs

>>71610838
there is absolutely nothing wrong with "trying hard"

>>71610850
I love that artsy album which frequently references Maurice Ravel and takes an Impressionist approach to songwriting

But it would be tone-deaf and inappropriate for "Crow"

>>71610850
No, I'm mad because it's fucking nothing. You're just defending the album because of the person behind it. It's half assed and boring. I would have written better music for my dead wife

>>71610885
inappropriateness is creative

>>71610900
You clearly don't have a cogent argument.

>>71610776
Go away, boldFAILURE lmao

>>71610925
your "sugarcoated" vs "raw thus fitting" narrative while appropriate is too obvious to be interesting, in a way just like aCLaM

>>71610979
That's the stupidest argument you could possibly make.
"It's the most artistically appropriate approach, therefore it's bad."
Go troll someone else, I'm not going to entertain some 17 year old.

>>71611002
as an 18 year old I too hate discussing music with these DAMN children.

anyone who is knocking Crow but likes Dawn is only being contrary for the sake of it

>>71611002
why is that you'd say

>>71611002
Phil said it himself though, this is dumb, and there's nothing to be gained from it

Carrie & Lowell is Sufjans only 10/10 album for me.

Mount Eerie/ Microphones don't have an album over a light 9.


Phil is Hurt and coping with his loss. while it seems Sufjan had the chance to cope and then write an album that best summed up the process of the feelings of leaving this earth.
Just FYI guys:

Phil has NEVER wrote a song as beautiful or as deep as Death w/ Dignity or No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross.


I don't blame him for releasing music in the wake of his wife's passing though, I mean he has to feed his daughter....

>>71611056
probably. dawn is my goat but crow doesn't surpass it for me. the first 3 tracks on crow are excellent + last 2, and all tell an excellent story but dawn evokes such a wider spectrum of sadness that appeals to me more. i'm not saying crow isn't beautiful, but dawn still wins for me. they both make me tear up though.

>>71611177
objectively wrong. why embarrass yourself like this?

>>71610763
Kill yourself and fuck your faggot Phil Elverum

>>71611177
Headless Horseman

>>71611177
Triple dubs confirm

>>71611209
He's right y'know. If you disagree, at least do it in an intelligible manner like he did, or else you just look like a Mount Eerie bandwagon faggot

>>71611056
>>71611194
what is Dawn?

>>71611177
Carrie & Lowell is by-the-numbers folk music

Phil has been honing a very particular formal structure for years and this is the climax

It's not even a contest

>>71611177
yeah they're just coming from different stages of grief so cynical shit like >>71610776 is pretty low

>>71611261
> Carrie and Lowell
> By the numbers Folk

You either didn't listen, or you just simply don't understand the album. Trust me, if you feel that way, you don't understand the album

>>71611177
>Mount Eerie/ Microphones don't have an album over a light 9.
I really disagree with this. Mount Eerie (album) is easily a perfect 10. Not only that, but it's a wholly original album that can't be compared to anything released prior.
Phil Elverum also makes ambitious albums which experiment in noise so it's no wonder Sufjan Stevens is going to have infinitely less missteps in his career, especially when he goes barebones, neglecting major songwriting tools for him.
>Phil has NEVER wrote a song as beautiful or as deep as Death w/ Dignity
I agree with this though.

>>71611177
>Phil has NEVER wrote a song as beautiful or as deep as Death w/ Dignity or No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross.

Wooly Mammoths Mighty Absence

W-What if you like them both?

>>71611491
>liking more than one thing at a time
lmao what

>>71611444
I appreciate an honest response m8.

Mont Eerie is the album I have as a light 9. I will relisten, I love the record, but I'm also a big fan of elephant album and Sauna.


I Just think Carrie & Lowell gets underrappreciated by this board, and to hear that this is "typical folk" just kinda drives me nuts because it's like, how ignorant and senseless could somebody be, not to be moved by some of the lyrics and arrangements on C&L.

>>71611561
Compare those arrangements to those on Illinoise, Michigan, and Adz.

>>71611602
I understand you're point exactly. I love those albums as much as anybody and their conceptual nature is also perfect to coincide with the themes of those very eccentric records.


Carrie and Lowell is a departure from the eccentricities on Age of Adz and Illinois.
For me on Carrie & Lowell, Sufjans choice of melody, lyrical themes, guitar arrangements, and production all best accent his personality and his pain. It's not about "what's most innovative and complex" and more about "does it hurt? Why does it hurt? Let me put on this record and heal all you're fears"
That's the beauty of Carrie and Lowell, no album experience ever has matched that emotion of pure depressed enlightenment and that's an aspect of music you can't just see at the surface, you have to feel it deep down.

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>>71610782

>>71611729
What you say for C&L is what I felt with Crow, and what I think Sufjan lacked.

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But this album captured grief more powerfully than either of those two albums.

>>71610931
LOL B T F O

>>71611306
I'm talking formally, structurally. It's a good album, but it's really not breaking new ground in that direction.

why is suffy so dang hot

>>71611940
How is that a bad thing, though? It's lyrically the tightest thing he's ever done. You could make the argument that the ambient bits are dropped in haphazardly, but they're all very concise pop songs.

I'd rather that than something "adventurous" like Adz that just throws a bunch of excessive bullshit at the wall hoping for something to stick.

>>71610887

It's not made for his dead wife, or you, it's made for himself, it's therapy

>>71612405
If you were right then he wouldn't have released it, promoted it, or put a price tag on it

>implying Do Make Say Think's comeback isn't going to be better than either

>>71612450

he needs to make a fucking living to, you know, feed his 1 1/2 year old daughter whose mom recently died. It's not like he's a fucking millionaire either, he does fine.

>>71612469
no thats fine but don't call it therapy. hes a musician doing his job to help put food on the table.

C&L is the worst album I've heard from sufjan
Haven't listened to the new Mount Eerie, I'm sure it's better though based on the single

>>71612469
He got like 300k from his GoFundMe that he didn't pay a dime of towards medical bills. If he's gonna "sell music", he should have at least made music to sell. It's literally a pity charity case

>>71612508
>He got like 300k from his GoFundMe that he didn't pay a dime of towards medical bills

Why the fuck are you lying? He's literally still in debt

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>>71612535
not true btw

I'm a pretty big Phil fan, no doubt about it. I'm that guy that owns all his records and many out of print rare releases etc. BUT I didn't really get much out of the new album. It was just uncomfortable and nothing stood out to me musically. It was a very plain album through and through. Almost like, purposefully plain. Which doesn't make it good, the result is what's most important to me. And I didn't like what Phil ended up with. The album gave me the same feeling as just reading a poem that Phil wrote about his wife or something. The music did nothing for me. Very drab, dull, boring. I guess he just had to get it out of his system but I'm really hoping the next thing he does is actually decent.

No offense to the man in question, of course I'm still a huge supporter of his work. I just didn't feel the new album at all.

>>71612560
>terry davis stream in background
thanks /g/

>>71612560
This

>B-B-But he is le starving artist!!!

>>71612578
This. It feels super forced.

>>71612578
I agree mostly.

I think I'll just buy a physical version of Sauna or something instead

>>71612578
this

>>71612619
How does it feel forced?
I agree with that anon in that it's really dull musically, but I'd hardly call it forced

>>71612619
Forced, or just, necessary? It just feels like Phil rushed this album majorly. So like what can we expect from a grieving man who doesn't have any fucking time to even go into his amazing studio where he's produced his last three albums so he records at home whenever he can when he doesn't have to be with his little daughter all the time. What could we expect from those 'sessions?' I definitely expected more but after I heard Crow, Real Death, and Ravens I was like OK this album is going to not be that great but I'm still going to listen to it.
>>71612625
Killer album. 100% worth owning. The artwork on that is among my favorites of Phil's albums. Clear Moon and Ocean Roar are both cool albums to hold and own and look at, but Sauna is an excellent physical release.

>>71612619
>>71612643
i mean that's completely subjective and there's no tangible way to argue why something is/isn't "forced" (i mean all music is to some extent) but imma still say nah

>>71612893
Well, regardless of whether or not it's forced it's not good :)

Sorry Phil

>>71611177
Holy shit stop posting literally any time bro
Phil has a handful of 9s and 2 consecutive 10s

>>71611177
This post legitimately makes me mad because there are songs from the B-Sides collection from The Glow, pt.2 that are better than anything on Carrie and Lowell