Planetarium | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 9, 2017 | |||
Recorded | May–August 2013 | |||
Length | 75:59 | |||
Label | 4AD | |||
Sufjan Stevens chronology | ||||
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Singles from Planetarium | ||||
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Planetarium is a collaborative album featuring Bryce Dessner of the indie rock band The National, drummer James McAlister, contemporary classical music composer and arranger Nico Muhly, and singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens. [1] The album was released by 4AD on June 9, 2017. [1] The group announced the recording on March 26, sharing the album's track listing along with the song "Saturn". [1]
The album consists of songs inspired by the Solar System. There are songs for the system's planets—Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—as well as the dwarf planet, Pluto. There are also songs inspired by black holes, Halley's Comet, the Kuiper belt, the Moon, and the Sun.
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 7.1/10 [2] |
Metacritic | 72/100 [3] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [4] |
The A.V. Club | C+ [5] |
The Guardian | [6] |
The Independent | [7] |
Mojo | [8] |
The Observer | [9] |
Pitchfork | 6.0/10 [10] |
Q | [11] |
The Times | [12] |
Uncut | 8/10 [13] |
Planetarium received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 72 based on 21 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [3] The Guardian critic Kate Hutchinson dubbed Planetarium an "immersive, celestial space opera" and advised that it would be "best enjoyed loud, certainly in a live setting". [6] Kitty Empire of The Observer wrote that the album, with its "grandeur and... considerable digital mayhem", recalled the electronics of Stevens' 2010 album The Age of Adz . [9] Joseph Mathieu of Exclaim! praised the album's musical diversity and remarked that it "does the solar system justice with almost every conceivable sound". [14] In his review for Uncut , Jason Anderson found that Planetarium successfully synthesizes Dessner and Muhly’s "classical ventures" with Stevens' "adventurous pop songcraft", noting the latter's ability to tackle "a variety of subjects, perspectives and treatments without losing his focus". [13] Consequence of Sound 's Kayleigh Hughes was most impressed by the "deeply personal, grounded stories" found in Stevens' lyrics. [15]
Thea Ballard of Pitchfork was more reserved in her praise, describing Planetarium as "sonically luxurious to the point of sometimes sounding bloated (as such big-ticket pop-classical commissions are wont to be)." [10] In his review for The A.V. Club , Josh Modell found that the album lacked focus: "It generally just plays like a wash of ideas without much of a through-line, despite its galaxy-driven conceit." [5]
All tracks are written by Bryce Dessner, James McAlister, Nico Muhly, and Sufjan Stevens
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Neptune" | 3:04 |
2. | "Jupiter" | 7:10 |
3. | "Halley's Comet" | 0:30 |
4. | "Venus" | 4:42 |
5. | "Uranus" | 6:51 |
6. | "Mars" | 7:08 |
7. | "Black Energy" | 5:25 |
8. | "Sun" | 3:59 |
9. | "Tides" | 0:58 |
10. | "Moon" | 3:42 |
11. | "Pluto" | 4:23 |
12. | "Kuiper Belt" | 2:04 |
13. | "Black Hole" | 0:33 |
14. | "Saturn" | 3:51 |
15. | "In the Beginning" | 1:17 |
16. | "Earth" | 15:10 |
17. | "Mercury" | 5:12 |
Total length: | 75:59 |
Chart (2017) | Peak position |
---|---|
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [17] | 89 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [18] | 117 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [19] | 77 |
French Albums (SNEP) [20] | 148 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [21] | 82 |
New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ) [22] | 5 |
Portuguese Albums (AFP) [23] | 36 |
Scottish Albums (OCC) [24] | 55 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [25] | 60 |
UK Albums (OCC) [26] | 92 |
US Billboard 200 [27] | 104 |
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard) [28] | 12 |
US Independent Albums (Billboard) [29] | 5 |
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) [30] | 20 |
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.
The National is an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, formed in Brooklyn, New York City, in 1999. The band consists of Matt Berninger (vocals), twin brothers Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner, as well as brothers Scott Devendorf (bass) and Bryan Devendorf (drums). During live performances, the band is joined by longtime touring members, Ben Lanz and Kyle Resnick. Carin Besser, the wife of Berninger, is not a band member but has written lyrics for the band alongside her husband since its 2007 album Boxer.
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Nico Asher Muhly is an American contemporary classical music composer and arranger who has worked and recorded with both classical and pop musicians. A prolific composer, he has composed for many notable symphony orchestras and chamber ensembles and has had two operas commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera. Since 2006, he has released nine studio albums, many of which are collaborative, including 2017's Planetarium with Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner & James McAlister. He is a member of the Icelandic music collective and record label Bedroom Community.
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun.
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky.
Bryce David Dessner is an American composer and guitarist based in Paris, and a member of the rock band the National. Dessner's twin brother, Aaron is also a member of the group. Together, they write the music in collaboration with lead singer and lyricist Matt Berninger.
MusicNOW is a contemporary music and arts festival founded in 2006 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by Chamber Music Cincinnati. President Audrey Luna and guitarist and composer Bryce Dessner curated this inaugural season. It was originally held at the Contemporary Arts Center and later moved to Memorial Hall, a small historic theater located in the city's historic Over-the-Rhine district. Festival performers have included contemporary music advocates Bang on a Can All-Stars and Kronos Quartet as well as indie rock groups such as Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors and The National. Two annual elements of the festival have been the inclusion of visual art, including installations by Karl Jensen, and new music commissions.
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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.
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"Saturn" is a 2017 single by Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, and James McAlister, featured on the collaborative album Planetarium. It was officially released on March 27, 2017, although it had previously been performed as early as 2012 as a part of the group's original Planetarium performances.
Call Me by Your Name: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 2017 romantic drama film, Call Me by Your Name. It features songs by The Psychedelic Furs, Franco Battiato, Loredana Bertè, Bandolero, Giorgio Moroder, Joe Esposito, and F. R. David, with compositions by John Adams, Erik Satie, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Maurice Ravel. American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens composed two original songs for the film, and the soundtrack also features a remix of his track "Futile Devices". Stevens's original song "Mystery of Love" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 2018 ceremony. At the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, "Mystery of Love" received a nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media and the soundtrack received one for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.
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