Sufjan Stevens, intimate side
The 2020-year-old's last album, The Ascension, dates back to 2015 but the songwriter's peak is considered to be the album Carrie & Lowell, released in <> and acclaimed as a masterpiece. Javelin, which has just been released, is the successor to that vintage. Sujan Stevens, who appeared on the scene at the turn of the century, constantly oscillated between stripped-down folk and more electropop productions. Javelin is the most satisfying fusion between these two aspects.
The production of the album is truly extraordinary, at once limpid and detailed, stripped down and abundant. Here, the man tackles the most intimate side of his inspiration. His touching voice expresses with great delicacy the seriousness of the subject. Javelin belongs to the category of mourning albums. The musician lost his companion before writing these cathartic songs. Each one is marked by great modesty, drawing the self-portrait of a very sensitive person. Guitar, piano, light electronic textures, the neat arrangements are all at the service of a superb collection of songs.
With a rich and varied discography, Stevens brings together the best of his last 25 years of creation. Never before had one of his albums shown so much scope. One sometimes thinks of the sound of the great American records of the 1970s recorded in lush studios, when the songwriter assembled these tracks at home with the help of very close friends. Among them is Bryce Dessner of The National on guitars. The album closes with a phenomenal cover of Neil Young's There's A World, much better than the original released in 1972 on the album Harvest.
Sufjan Stevens, "Javelin", Asthmatic Kitty/Modulor
The Treasures of Joni Mitchell
The genius Canadian continues to explore her archives, gleaned from a dazzling discography that began in 1968. After two interesting first volumes, this third part looks at the musician's best years: those during which she was on the Asylum label, founded by mogul David Geffen. A period marked both by hits and by a crazy creativity. The young woman's style was then in full mutation: she gradually abandoned the folk shores of her beginnings to approach more ambitious arrangements, on the borders of jazz. With 96 tracks, this box set allows us to follow the composer's developments closely. His genius is at work on pieces that are fiercely personal and original. It's a far cry from the academicism of his first masterpiece Blue.
The song mock-ups reveal the profound originality of this pioneer's writing. The live recordings reveal the strength of his interpretation. A new studio session saw her play her classic Raised on Robbery with Neil Young and the Santa Monica Flyers, who were busy recording Tonight's The Night. Elsewhere, we hear the voices of Crosby and Nash, pillars of the supergroup that made the song Woodstock a generational anthem. There are also several versions of the song "Edith & the Kingpin", which Tina Turner magnified in tandem with Herbie Hancock. A staggering sum with multiple treasures.
A 5 CD or 4 LP box set (Reprise/Warner)