Latest news with #SufjanStevens
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
BC Camplight: A Sober Conversation review – an eccentric rock opera confronting childhood abuse
'Some people face the music,' Brian Christinzio sings on The Tent. 'Some people face the floor.' On this outlandish seventh album, the Manchester-based US singer-songwriter makes a bold bid for the former. That song alone excavates childhood memories, with Christinzio crunching leaves and finding caterpillars, cutely illustrated by twinkling piano, only for abrupt tonal shifts (siren-like drones, distorted vocals, heavenly choirs) to crash in like intrusive thoughts. It's a queasy, visceral introduction to a record which confronts the summer he was abused, as a child, by an adult camp counsellor. A Sober Conversation is an eccentric rock opera about repression, depression and anger told with the meta-theatrical, tragicomic style that has won Christinzio a cult following. The title track veers into showtune territory, shimmying in double time as he employs a kooky variety of voices to tease a 'big secret', but also has a gorgeous, melancholy vocal melody that Sufjan Stevens would be proud of. Single Two Legged Dog, a glam piano-pop duet with the Last Dinner Party's Abigail Morris, sticks a middle finger up to pity and culminates in a howling crescendo. Best (or most galling) of all is Where You Taking My Baby?, a chilling, jaunty confrontation of his abuser with sparse, lovely guitar underpinning the song's gut-churning question. Christinzio's inventive, infuriating writing often packs three extra songs into every single track – but this time for good reason. When the chatter falls away on instrumental closer Leaving Camp Four Oaks, he achieves a hard-won, sun-lit sense of peace.
The Guardian
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
BC Camplight: A Sober Conversation review – an eccentric rock opera confronting childhood abuse
'Some people face the music,' Brian Christinzio sings on The Tent. 'Some people face the floor.' On this outlandish seventh album, the Manchester-based US singer-songwriter makes a bold bid for the former. That song alone excavates childhood memories, with Christinzio crunching leaves and finding caterpillars, cutely illustrated by twinkling piano, only for abrupt tonal shifts (siren-like drones, distorted vocals, heavenly choirs) to crash in like intrusive thoughts. It's a queasy, visceral introduction to a record which confronts the summer he was abused, as a child, by an adult camp counsellor. A Sober Conversation is an eccentric rock opera about repression, depression and anger told with the meta-theatrical, tragicomic style that has won Christinzio a cult following. The title track veers into showtune territory, shimmying in double time as he employs a kooky variety of voices to tease a 'big secret', but also has a gorgeous, melancholy vocal melody that Sufjan Stevens would be proud of. Single Two Legged Dog, a glam piano-pop duet with the Last Dinner Party's Abigail Morris, sticks a middle finger up to pity and culminates in a howling crescendo. Best (or most galling) of all is Where You Taking My Baby?, a chilling, jaunty confrontation of his abuser with sparse, lovely guitar underpinning the song's gut-churning question. Christinzio's inventive, infuriating writing often packs three extra songs into every single track – but this time for good reason. When the chatter falls away on instrumental closer Leaving Camp Four Oaks, he achieves a hard-won, sun-lit sense of peace.
The Guardian
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Jacob Alon: In Limerence review – dreamy story songs of myth and melancholy
The title of Scottish indie-folk musician Jacob Alon's delicate debut album may seem ironic: the phrase describes an intense kind of desire, and Alon's music can be shatteringly desolate and lonely, their voice and fingerpicked guitar conveying isolation and introversion with raw clarity. But In Limerence makes a strong case for its name: isn't desire, Alon seems to ask, one of the most incurably lonely feelings of all? These story songs – about youthful infatuation, reckless hedonism and one-sided obsession – are brittle and wounded, each zeroing in on a different strain of disappointment or heartache. Alon was born in Dunfermline, Fife, a city tucked between pockets of forest, and they play up the organic, semi-mystical nature of their music, performing in wings and Midsummer Night's Dream-esque wreaths; In Limerence's lyric sheet is filled with references to the cosmos, mythology and folklore. You can sense their fealty to Sufjan Stevens, who has also performed wearing wings and peppers his queer love songs with dense literary references. But some of Alon's choices still feel frustratingly traditional. Of Amber and I Couldn't Feed Her feature unique samples and unorthodox percussion, but the likes of Elijah and Liquid Gold 25 struggle for distinction among the ever-growing pack of folksy, post-Adrianne Lenker songwriters. Still, Alon's perspective is well-realised, making In Limerence compelling enough to keep you tuned in for whatever's next.
Perth Now
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Sufjan Stevens: 'I'm not really in any state of mind or any position to go on tour yet'
Sufjan Stevens is doing 'okay' two years after the death of his partner but is not ready to tour. The 49-year-old singer/songwriter was left devastated in April 2023 after his partner Evans Richardson died and he also struggled with ill-health the same year after being diagnosed with the rare neurological condition Guillain-Barré Syndrome. However, Stevens has insisted he is healing and in a 'state of repair and survival' after a difficult few years. He told Vulture: 'I'm okay. Situation normal, all up, kind of a thing. I've had some pretty difficult things happen to me, so I'm in a state of repair and survival. I'm not really in any state of mind or any position to go on tour yet. But I'm starting to see the light. I'm starting to feel a sense of direction toward something meaningful and substantial. I've been focusing on the moment and on things that feel very silly and Zen: serenity and acceptance and duty and stewardship.' He also revealed he is finding comfort in mundane activities. He said: 'It's a lot of gardening and dog-walking and running a small business. I'm the primary owner of [record label] Asthmatic Kitty now because [Stevens' stepdad and label co-founder] Lowell is retired. I have a team of people, but I'm a lot more involved than I used to be. It feels good to have that to occupy my time right now. I'm doing a lot of ordinary, mundane adulting. The other day, I had to get a septic pump replaced. I have had to retile the kitchen and buy some new appliances, and I've got seedlings under grow lights in the garage. I've been working on other people's music this past year, not my own. It feels like my life is in service to other things right now. It's fine and required of me. I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay. It's been two years of a s***tshow, but I'm okay.'
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Sufjan Stevens sparks furious uproar with 'blasphemous' comments about the Bible being 'very gay'
Sufjan Stevens has sparked furious uproar with his 'blasphemous' comments about the Bible - with some fans now threatening to boycott the singer. The musician, 49, detailed how the religious text is inherently sexual before also branding it as 'very gay.' 'The religious is very sexual,' he detailed in a new interview with Vulture. 'It's erotic. Look at Catholic art through the ages, Baroque art. It's all very fleshy and sensual and full of naked bodies.' The singer publicly came out in October 2023 when he dedicated his album, Javelin, to his 'beloved partner and best friend, Evans Richardson.' He also revealed Richardson had died that April. Sufjan - who identifies as a Christian - said that he has 'always embraced' the sexuality of religion in his work. 'I've always felt that my relationship to God is a very intimate and sensual one,' he explained. 'Sacraments are. It's engaging with God in a physical way. You're literally eating the flesh and drinking the blood of God during the Eucharist. 'It doesn't get much more erotic than that. If you're a vampire, that's the ultimate erotic experience.' The Visions of Gideon singer added: 'The Bible's very gay. Just all men. 'That's what you get when there's a patriarchy that's endured for so long. Jesus was single, never married. Disciples were all dudes...' But many fans of his music were not happy with Sufjan's take on the Bible. 'Sad to see my favorite artist say something with this level of disrespect towards the Holy Book. Shameful and bittersweet,' someone wrote. 'Sufjan, baby, I love you, but you're doing too much,' another wrote. 'Oh, RIP whatever little career this guy had,' a user wrote. 'Uncalled for,' a person wrote, while another said, 'Blasphemous.' 'Really like his music, but this is so boring and very unnecessary. Nobody wants to know Sufjan Stevens' point of view about Jesus' life, we already have the Bible,' one former fan detailed. Another shared: 'You are a fool.' 'I liked him before that information. He sounds dumb as f**k now,' a comment read.
