Sufjan Stevens is gearing up for the release of his forthcoming five-volume album, Convocations, on May 6th, and today he’s previewed the fourth volume, Celebrations, with “Celebration VIII.”
The ambient new track feels more spiritual than the previous releases, as it almost feels like making your way through a forest beneath glitching, trippy instrumentals. With echoey textures, it seems that Celebrations will be more of an exploration of a dreary stage of mourning.
He’s releasing the album one part at a time, and while Meditations, Lamentations and Revelations have already been released, he’s gearing up to drop Celebrations at the end of the week. The forthcoming two-and-a-half-hour, 49-track collection was written and recorded in 2020 as a tribute to his father, who died just two days after the release of Stevens’ last album, The Ascension, in September.
Listen to “Celebration VIII” below.
The five volumes are set to each explore different parts of Stevens’ grieving process, including loss, isolation, and anxiety.
