Sufjan Full Length LP Coming in October

As if an upcoming tour and a really good 60 minute EP released just last week wasn’t enough, Sufjan Stevens has announced he’ll be releasing the full length follow up to Come On, Feel the Illinoise on October 12 via his Asthmatic Kitty label. Those around the country waiting anxiously to find out if their state is next in his series will be disappointed, as the album is called The Age of Adz (“Adz” is apparently pronounced “odds”). The label describes the album thusly:

It’s much too soon to cast descriptive lots, but we can say the new album sounds nothing like the All Delighted EP (although it shares similar themes of love, loss, and the apocalypse). Nor is this new album built around any conceptual underpinning (no odes to states, astrology, or urban expressways).

We can say it shows an extensive use of electronics (banjos and acoustic guitars give way to drum machines and analog synthesizers), and an obsession with cosmic fantasies (space, heaven, aliens, love), to create an explicit pop-song extravaganza, augmented by heavy orchestration, and maybe even a few danceable moments. Enjoy Your Rabbit meets the BQE. But with songs. Verse, chorus, bridge, backbeat. Gated reverb. Space echo. Get your boogey on.

The “Adz” of the title loosely refers to the apocalyptic paintings of outsider artist Royal Robertson (1930-1997), whose work is used for the album cover, interior design, and as general inspiration for the tone of the album.

The cover art is above, the track list below, and the excitement inside all of us at TUiW.

The Age of Adz:

01 Futile Devices
02 Too Much
03 Age of Adz
04 I Walked
05 Now That I’m Older
06 Get Real Get Right
07 Bad Communication
08 Vesuvius
09 All for Myself
10 I Want To Be Well
11 Impossible Soul