| Aporia | ||||
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| Studio album by Sufjan Stevens and Lowell Brams | ||||
| Released | March 24, 2020 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 42:06 | |||
| Label | Asthmatic Kitty | |||
| Sufjan Stevens chronology | ||||
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| Lowell Brams chronology | ||||
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Aporia is an album by American musician Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather, Lowell Brams. It was released through Asthmatic Kitty on March 24, 2020 with a live preview held on YouTube on March 23, 2020. [3]
The album was inspired by new-age music, with Stevens citing Enya and Boards of Canada as major influences, as well as the soundtracks for the films Blade Runner , Under the Skin , and Hereditary . [1] [4] Stevens explained that the album marks the retirement of his stepfather and business partner Lowell Brams, with whom he founded the label Asthmatic Kitty, saying that it "tells a bigger story of stewardship and mentorship. He's been there since I was five. [...] This record is a synthesis of all of that history." [5]
The album was initially slated for release on March 27, 2020, but the duo pushed up the release to March 24 due to growing concerns over record stores shutting down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. [6]
Stevens and Brams worked on the album during Brams' visits to Stevens' home in New York. [5] Stevens stated that the album primarily came about as a result of jam sessions: "You know how it is with jamming, ninety percent of it is absolutely horrible, but if you're just lucky enough, ten percent is magic. I just kept pulling out these little magical moments." [7] He and Brams then took the best parts of their jam sessions and arranged them into songs. [5]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 72/100 [8] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [9] |
| Consequence of Sound | B+ [10] |
| Exclaim! | 7/10 [11] |
| Pitchfork | 6.8/10 [2] |
On review aggregator Metacritic, Aporia has received a weighted average score of 72 out of 100 based on reviews from 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reception. [8] Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Mark Deming found the album to be "sometimes an aural journey through a labyrinth, but it never sounds like the participants are lost, and if Brams has some time on his hands, he could find worse ways to spend it than jamming with his stepson again". [9] Grant Sharples of Consequence of Sound graded the album a B+ and opined that it is "overall quite peaceful" with "moments of brashness and tension, and it's through these internal contradictions between tension and release that Aporia distinguishes itself". [10]
Writing for Exclaim! , Allie Gregory rated the album 7 out of 10 and judged that it "would be best suited to a movie score or soundtracking a meditation practice", as each "fuzzed-out song lends itself to a distinct '80s sci-fi aesthetic [that] always leans futuristic, compositionally just shy of dystopian". Ultimately, she concluded that Aporia is an "ode to their [Stevens' and Brams'] decades-long father-son relationship and a fitting conclusion to their musically enriched partnership". [11] In a review for Pitchfork , Peyton Thomas rated the album 6.8 out of 10 and called it "a collection of warm, improvisatory synth-wave epics" that are "intimate and unvarnished" and "double as a testament to the power of found family". [2]
All tracks are written by Sufjan Stevens and Lowell Brams
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ousia" | 2:33 |
| 2. | "What It Takes" | 3:23 |
| 3. | "Disinheritance" | 1:13 |
| 4. | "Agathon" | 3:02 |
| 5. | "Determined Outcome" | 2:12 |
| 6. | "Misology" | 1:49 |
| 7. | "Afterworld Alliance" | 2:47 |
| 8. | "Palinodes" | 0:32 |
| 9. | "Backhanded Cloud" | 1:26 |
| 10. | "Glorious You" | 1:49 |
| 11. | "For Raymond Scott" | 0:34 |
| 12. | "Matronymic" | 0:57 |
| 13. | "The Red Desert" | 2:54 |
| 14. | "Conciliation" | 1:20 |
| 15. | "Ataraxia" | 1:12 |
| 16. | "The Unlimited" | 2:14 |
| 17. | "The Runaround" | 3:35 |
| 18. | "Climb That Mountain" | 3:00 |
| 19. | "Captain Praxis" | 2:13 |
| 20. | "Eudaimonia" | 2:19 |
| 21. | "The Lydian Ring" | 1:02 |
| Total length: | 42:06 | |
Additional musicians
Technical personnel
| Chart (2020) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Scottish Albums (OCC) [12] | 27 |
| UK Album Downloads (OCC) [13] | 69 |
| US New Age Albums ( Billboard ) [14] | 5 |
| US Top Album Sales (Billboard) [15] | 94 |
Sufjan Stevens is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released ten solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nominations.
A Sun Came! is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens, released in 1999 on Asthmatic Kitty. It was reissued four years later. Among Stevens' back catalog, A Sun Came is notable for being recorded on four-track.
Illinois is a 2005 concept album by American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens. His fifth studio album, it features songs referencing places, events, and persons related to the U.S. state of Illinois. Illinois is Stevens' second based on a U.S. state—part of a planned series of fifty that began with the 2003 album Michigan and that Stevens has since acknowledged was a joke.
Asthmatic Kitty is an American independent record label founded in 1999 by a community of musicians from Holland, Michigan led by Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams. Some were Holland natives, and others had come to attend local colleges and universities. While the original Holland nucleus has dispersed across the country, the community has grown, with new artists and shared projects with other independent labels. The Library Catalog Music Series, inaugurated in 2009, showcases instrumental music by a wide variety of musicians, with eighteen albums in print as of February 2013, and more scheduled for release. Asthmatic Kitty is now based in Lander, Wyoming, Atlanta, Georgia and Brooklyn, New York.
The Avalanche is a compilation album by indie rock singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens, consisting of outtakes and other recordings from the sessions for his album Illinois, released the previous year. The title song "The Avalanche" was also a bonus track on the Illinois vinyl and iTunes release.
Songs for Christmas is a box set of five separate EPs of Christmas-related songs and carols recorded by independent musician Sufjan Stevens between 2001 and 2006. The EPs had been given as gifts to friends and family of Stevens over the past six years, except for 2004 when he was too busy recording the Illinois album. Though the first three EPs had already been available on Sufjan Stevens-related fansites for several years, Songs for Christmas is the first official release of these EPs. Most of the tracks are versions of traditional Christmas songs, with a number of original compositions such as "Sister Winter" and "Star of Wonder". Sufjan Stevens has developed a reputation for being a devoted Christian and many of the songs he chose for inclusion on Songs for Christmas are religious in nature, including his original compositions.
All Delighted People is an EP by Sufjan Stevens, released online by Asthmatic Kitty Records on August 20, 2010. It is centered around two versions of Stevens' ballad "All Delighted People". According to the official release webpage it is an "homage to the Apocalypse, existential ennui, and Paul Simon's 'Sound of Silence'". It debuted at #48 on the Billboard 200 and jumped to number #27 the week after.
The Age of Adz is the sixth studio album by American singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens, released on October 12, 2010 by Asthmatic Kitty. It was Stevens' first song-based full-length album in five years, since the release of Illinois in 2005.
American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens has released thirteen studio albums, three compilation albums, three soundtracks, two mixtapes, thirteen extended plays (EP), twenty singles, eight promotional singles, and eight music videos. Through his record label Asthmatic Kitty Records, Stevens released his first two albums A Sun Came and Enjoy Your Rabbit in 2000 and 2001, respectively. For his next two releases – Michigan (2003) and Seven Swans (2004) – the singer partnered with Sounds Familyre Records for the distribution of both releases. Seven Swans was supported by Stevens' debut single "The Dress Looks Nice on You". The same album was reissued in 2009 and included the new single "I Went Dancing with My Sister". His fifth album, Illinois, was his first release to enter record charts, where it reached the lower positions in several countries and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of 500,000 copies. The Avalanche, a compilation album consisting of outtakes from Illinois, was released in 2006 and also reached various charts internationally.
Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas, Vols. 6–10 is a five-EP box set of Christmas-related songs and carols recorded by Sufjan Stevens between 2006 and 2012. It is a follow-up to Songs for Christmas, which was released six years prior. On October 2, 2012, it was announced that Stevens would release Silver & Gold on November 13, 2012 in digital format, CD and LP boxset. On October 24, 2012, a claymation music video, animated by Lee Hardcastle, was released for "Mr. Frosty Man".
Sisyphus is the debut studio album by Sisyphus, a collaborative project between Serengeti, Son Lux, and Sufjan Stevens. It was released through Asthmatic Kitty on March 18, 2014. The project was commissioned by the Walker Art Center and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's Liquid Music series to accompany an exhibition of the work of visual artist Jim Hodges, scheduled to run from February 14 through May 11, 2014.
Carrie & Lowell is the seventh studio album by American musician Sufjan Stevens. It was released on March 31, 2015, by Asthmatic Kitty. It was produced by Stevens, and features guest contributions from Thomas Bartlett, Sean Carey, Casey Foubert, Ben Lester, Nedelle Torrisi, and Laura Veirs.
"No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross" is a song by American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens. It is the tenth track and lead single from his seventh studio album, Carrie & Lowell, and was released digitally on February 16, 2015 on Asthmatic Kitty and as a one-track 7" on March 3, 2015 on Joyful Noise Recordings.
"Should Have Known Better" is a song by American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens. It is the second track and second single from his seventh studio album, Carrie & Lowell, and was released digitally on March 11, 2015 on Asthmatic Kitty. A one-track promotional CD was later released on Asthmatic Kitty but was not available for sale.
The Greatest Gift is a mixtape by Sufjan Stevens consisting of outtakes and unreleased tracks from Stevens' 2015 release, Carrie & Lowell.
The Decalogue is a 2017 soundtrack album to the Justin Peck ballet of the same name, by Timo Andres and Sufjan Stevens. The album was released by Asthmatic Kitty to mixed reviews. The ballet debuted in 2017 with the New York City Ballet.
The Ascension is the eighth studio album by American musician Sufjan Stevens. It was released through Asthmatic Kitty on September 25, 2020. The record was influenced by a range of artists, particularly Ariana Grande and her 2018 song "Thank U, Next".
Convocations is the ninth studio album by American musician Sufjan Stevens, released through Asthmatic Kitty on May 6, 2021. Recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic following the death of Stevens's father, the album was released in five volumes, with a combined total of 49 instrumental songs.
A Beginner's Mind is a collaborative album by American musicians Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine. The album was released by Asthmatic Kitty on September 24, 2021. After being teased by Asthmatic Kitty for several days, the album was formally announced on July 7, 2021, along with its track listing and two singles, "Reach Out" and "Olympus". Daniel Anum Jasper created the album's cover artwork.
Javelin is the tenth studio album by American musician Sufjan Stevens. It was released on October 6, 2023, through Asthmatic Kitty.
