Sufjan Stevens Shares Somber ‘Should Have Known Better’
Sufjan Stevens‘ five-year gap between studio albums will end March 31st when the singer releases his intensely personal new collection Carrie & Lowell. Having already shared the first single “No Shade In The Shadow Of The Cross,” Stevens now offers up another folk-tinged track, “Should Have Known Better.” The video itself, showcasing a bridge over tranquil waters, sets the mood for the morose lyrics that, like the album, often reminisce about Stevens’ family trips to Oregon with his mother Carrie and stepfather Lowell.
“I should have known better / Nothing can be changed / The past is still the past,” Stevens sings. “The bridge to nowhere / I should’ve wrote a letter / Explaining what I feel, that empty feeling.” According to a press release, Carrie & Lowell‘s 11 songs “address life and death, love and loss, and the artist’s struggle to make sense of the beauty and ugliness of love.”
Carrie & Lowell, the follow-up to 2010’s The Age of Adz, was recorded by Stevens alongside Casey Foubert, Laura Veirs, Nedelle Torrisi, Sean Carey, Ben Lester and Thomas Bartlett. In anticipation of the new album, Stevens’ Asthmatic Kitty Records has been hosting “silent listening parties” throughout the U.S., where fans are given lyric sheets and headphones to listen to Carrie & Lowell. Check out the Asthmatic Kitty site for upcoming parties.
Stevens will also embark on a long trek in support of his latest LP, kicking off with a two-night stand at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music on April 9th. Check the Carrie & Lowell site for the full itinerary.