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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
A joyous blend of dumb fun and sonic smarts with the talent that Stevens has been peddling for nearly 20 years to glue them together, this feels a fresh start in a career that didn’t exactly need one. Somehow, a wonderful surprise. Wow.
100
The richness and depth of the album calls for repeated and careful listening. Sufjan Stevens is a master of sound who makes its creative manipulation appear so easy.
100
It may very well be his most challenging and ambitious undertaking to date as well as a sign of the new era of Stevens to come.
100
Though some might find the odd track a bit noodly, I was rendered wonderfully weightless by a journey that delivered whole galaxies of nuance in a universal context.
12mo
91
The Ascension is one of Sufjan Stevens’ grandest, most ambitious works yet, and that’s quite the feat considering he’s one of the most ambitious musicians in his genre.
12mo
90
The Ascension sees him lay down new paths while very much corroborating his special, loved status.
90
On this album he is sharing a more obscure, richly detailed approach which does an awful lot with a small, focused collection of sounds
12mo
90
The Ascension demonstrates a great deal of growth, expansion, and experimentation in Sufjan Stevens’ work. Not only is it one of his best album–if not his best–it is clearly a contender for Album Of The Year.
12mo
90
The record provides an expansive canvas for Sufjan to critique the flaws of humanity, at the same time finding room for the inward focus that made his previous offering so compelling.
11mo
85
The Ascension harks back to the heavy electronics of 2010’s Age of Adz but with adroit focus on the themes of existential dread and the quest for meaning with a bounty of angry yet hopeful songs that satisfy melodically and metaphysically.
11mo
80
The Ascension is almost too anxious to bear, but always draws you into its gravitational pull. In short, it’s a 2020 album about self-healing and the wounds that are still fresh.
80
There’s a stunning candour to the lyrics, though it gets a little stodgy in the mid-section and, at 80+ minutes, is a little more verbiage than the typical album. Yet we’re dealing with an untypical songwriter, and the last two tracks are among the best he’s ever written.
80
As the horror show that is 2020 continues to rumble on, ‘The Ascension’ is yet another ample soundtrack to rage-dance to.
80
A sonic sibling to 2010’s electro-pop Age of Adz and a direct follow-up to 2015’s autobiographical, folk-orchestral Carrie and Lowell, The Ascension looks outward.
80
These are grand themes and, throughout, the record cosmically fuses together the epic and intimate.
12mo
80
Stevens has said that this is his more pessimistic record yet but with him crafting this album, one with so much thoughtfulness to it, shows that ultimately while he is upset with how things are in the current climate, he cares enough to air his grievances in this intriguing, beautiful and quite sprawling way.
12mo
80
The Ascension’s maximalist reckoning finds his horror at national affairs mirroring his own inner turbulence.
12mo
80
Stevens doesn’t feel the need to defend himself; he trusts that, this time, we know he’s not fucking around, delivering a confident album that runs through with hooks and synthesized textures that reach sky-high and often get there.
12mo
80
The Ascension ranks with Carrie & Lowell as his most personal and affecting work to date.
11mo
75
Both lyrically and musically, The Ascension appears to be driven by feeling rather than intense intellectualism. Here Stevens’ lyrics are suggestive, initiating a slow-burn response from the listener rather than the immediate dagger-to-the-heart specificity of Carrie & Lowell.
75
A bloated and often beautiful portrait of political and emotional anxiety that longs for nothing more than to break away from the systems that brought us to this current moment.
12mo
75
Certainly The Ascension is by no means perfect. Yet, Sufjan Stevens has created a work that deserves to heard. The more one listens, the more once begins to appreciate the density of this work and its ability to transform expectations.
11mo
72
There are undoubtedly some breathtaking songs on The Ascension, but its weaker moments instill a nagging feeling that the 80-minute album tends to overstay its welcome.
12mo
70
On this sometimes obstinate, sometimes sublime record, Stevens shows he contains multitudes.
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1y
70
The Ascension may become something of a white elephant in Stevens’ discography: an album of lavish assembly, clearly of immense importance to its creator, and, during its best moments, impressively riveting, but also, you suspect, one that few will revisit in its presented form – a record that only the most devoted of Sufjan stans will be able to swallow whole.
70
Exhaustive, dense, and detailed, Sufjan Stevens’ electro-opus is another huge artistic leap that speaks plainly to complicated emotions and attempts to rebuild his sound from the ground up.
12mo
70
On his eighth album, Stevens has gone back to the future to soundtrack the current moment, sitting alone at his computer and thinking about the way the world is going (hint: to hell in a handcart) and how he could address that. Answer: English synth-pop from the early '80s. But instead of just using it as window dressing, he subsumes that sound and tries to repurpose it for 2020.
12mo
60
While Stevens often reaches great heights on The Ascension, he almost as often seems to get lost in his big ideas.
60
Both beguiling and frustrating, The Ascension is complex, bold and oddly lovable.
60
Ultimately, it’s those ethereal effects that color this album and give it its feel overall. You might find yourself scratching your head repeatedly, but in the end, you’ll feel like you’ve been strangely seduced.
11mo
60
Though generally not lacking in beauty or scale, The Ascension has a handful of somewhat grating moments that make it harder to love as a holistic experience.
11mo
50
The various depressive quips throughout Ascension feel more like self-parody than self-affirmation. On the upside, there is plenty of instrumental variety, though the lack of focus seems more the result of meandering at-home synth exploration than innovation.
12mo
Someone tweeted that "Run Away with Me" on this album was a cover of the Carly Rae Jepsen song, so i immediately jumped on spotify to listen. I was incredibly disappointed. Props to whoever trolled me tho.
this is the most direct mr. Stevens has ever been, and the honesty shines through. the complexity of ‘the ascension’ is result of sufjan’s drive for greatness; the mixing is on another level, so congrats to suf for that.
this first “major” release in five years is nothing that i expected, for even after hearing ‘aporia’ and all of his extremely experimental electronic projects, this is shockingly different.
“make me an offer i can not ... read more
this first “major” release in five years is nothing that i expected, for even after hearing ‘aporia’ and all of his extremely experimental electronic projects, this is shockingly different.
“make me an offer i can not ... read more
"I shit my pants and wet the bed"
Man, I’ve been so excited for this album, it was honestly my most anticipated album of the year. And so after listening to it, I can say… That the hyped lived on to this album! Though let me get something straight, This is much different album than something like Carrie & Lowell and Illinois, because Sufjan Stevens dropped the whole folk genre and go for more experimental electronic sounds, I think some fans will be disappointed, and ... read more
Man, I’ve been so excited for this album, it was honestly my most anticipated album of the year. And so after listening to it, I can say… That the hyped lived on to this album! Though let me get something straight, This is much different album than something like Carrie & Lowell and Illinois, because Sufjan Stevens dropped the whole folk genre and go for more experimental electronic sounds, I think some fans will be disappointed, and ... read more
Sufjan Stevens is a very different person than he was in his late twenties. Starting with his breakout indie-folk record Michigan which started the brief idea he would release an album representing each state in the US, the stellar and similarly bright Illinois being the only follow-up to that concept, Stevens had a period of time where he was the poster-boy for positivity in the indie scene; a carefree and whimsical songwriter. Seven Swans, which came in between those two releases, was a ... read more
When a God Returns At the End (or, Virtuoso Thoughts in D Minor)
Sufjan Stevens is heralded as one of the most influential musical acts of the 21st century.
So, what’s his take on 21st century culture? Meet “The Ascension”.
Stevens surrounds himself in the harsh, desolate world of electronics on his newest venture, more so than on “The Age of Adz” (previously his most computerized eccentricity). The highlights here are the gratifyingly jagged instrumentals, which ... read more
Sufjan Stevens is heralded as one of the most influential musical acts of the 21st century.
So, what’s his take on 21st century culture? Meet “The Ascension”.
Stevens surrounds himself in the harsh, desolate world of electronics on his newest venture, more so than on “The Age of Adz” (previously his most computerized eccentricity). The highlights here are the gratifyingly jagged instrumentals, which ... read more
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Track List
| 1 | Make Me an Offer I Cannot Refuse 5:18 | 87 |
| 2 | Run Away With Me 4:07 | 85 |
| 3 | Video Game 4:15 | 84 |
| 4 | Lamentations 3:42 | 84 |
| 5 | Tell Me You Love Me 4:21 | 85 |
| 6 | Die Happy 5:46 | 85 |
| 7 | Ativan 6:32 | 81 |
| 8 | Ursa Major 3:42 | 81 |
| 9 | Landslide 5:04 | 80 |
| 10 | Gilgamesh 3:50 | 76 |
| 11 | Death Star 4:04 | 78 |
| 12 | Goodbye To All That 3:48 | 81 |
| 13 | Sugar 7:36 | 84 |
| 14 | The Ascension 5:56 | 92 |
| 15 | America 12:29 | 93 |
Total Length: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Year End Lists
| #1 | / | The New York Times: Jon Pareles |
| #6 | / | NBHAP |
| #8 | / | The Independent |
| #9 | / | Piccadilly Records |
| #11 | / | MondoSonoro |
| #13 | / | Gaffa (Denmark) |
| #13 | / | Under the Radar |
| #15 | / | No Ripcord |
| #16 | / | Northern Transmissions |
| #17 | / | Gaffa (Sweden) |
More Lists
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11mo
dang, I thought he was gonna give it a 7+ score at first, why you gotta play with my emotions anthony 😔
11mo
I find it wild that a Sufjan Stevens album is only the 3rd most talked about album this week
Been a crazy week for albums
Been a crazy week for albums
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Added on: June 30, 2020