Sufjan Stevens has streamed his latest album, Carrie & Lowell, online in full. Listen to it below.
Stevens' label, Asthmatic Kitty, have requested of listeners: "Hear the album through headphones, look away from the computer," a request we wholeheartedly endorse.
The album, which is Stevens' seventh, is a low-key, minimalist and heartwrenching affair, with a brooding soundscape which certainly lends itself to noise-cancelling headphones and a lie down in a quiet room.
Listen to Carrie & Lowell in full via The Guardian here.
The album, which is officially released on 31 March, is named after the singer's mother and stepfather, and addresses issues of "life, death, love and loss, and the artist's struggle to make sense of the beauty and ugliness of love."
Few lyrics in the album evoke the beauty and ugliness of love more than, "Shall we beat this or celebrate it? / You’re not the one to talk things through /You checked your texts while I masturbated / Manelich, I feel so used" from 'All Of Me Wants All Of You'.
Sufjan Stevens is set to perform at End Of The Road festival in September - his first ever UK festival appearance. Buy tickets below.
