On March 27, Sufjan Stevens was supposed to release a collaborative New Age-inspired album he wrote with his stepfather, Lowell Brams (whose name you might recognize from Stevens’ excellent Carrie & Lowell), but the coronavirus crisis has inspired him to change plans a little bit. As reported by Consequence Of Sound, the album—Aporia—is now streaming in full on YouTube (you can hear it below), and it’ll receive a wider release tomorrow in hopes of getting it into people’s hands before more record stores close their doors from the ongoing pandemic.
When we first heard about the album back in February, Stevens and Brams (who is also the co-founder of Stevens’ Asthmatic Kitty label) explained that it was inspired by various New Age musicians and the “moody, hooky, gauzy synthesizer soundscapes” of sci-fi movies. It’s also a “mostly instrumental” album, which is bad news for folks who like to hear Sufjan Stevens’ voice but… maybe good news for folks who don’t? We don’t know who those folks are, as even people who don’t especially like his tunes have to admit that he can sing, but whatever. Surely someone will hear Aporia and say it’s their favorite Sufjan Stevens album.