Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell (33 1/3)

Author: Joel Mayward

Stevens’ beautifully melancholic music.

Critically acclaimed as one of the best albums of 2015, the elegiac and intimate record about the death of Sufjan’s estranged mother reflects the musician’s own paradoxical posture-Carrie & Lowellis both sacredandprofane, Christianandqueer, traditionalandprogressive, despairingandhopeful.

Theologian and cultural critic Joel Mayward considersCarrie & Lowellas a mystical metamodernmemento mori, Sufjan’s symphonic (as opposed to systematic) approach to the questions of mortality, sexuality, and God. Fusing critical observations with personal narrative, Mayward examines the unique audience reception ofCarrie & Lowelland the questions it raises: in a world of division, how might Stevens’ affecting music act as a bridge of love between seemingly irreconcilable communities? AsCarrie & Lowellreminds us of the painful truth that “we’re all gonna die,” perhaps it also offers a glimpse of transcendence and hope on this side of death.