The Ascension (Sufjan Stevens album)

The Ascension
An elaborate and colorful pattern like a stained glass window making a circle in the center and top of the image with the album title and artist name running along the side in white text on black bands
Studio album by
Sufjan Stevens
ReleasedSeptember 25, 2020 (2020-09-25)
Genre
Length80:30
LabelAsthmatic Kitty
ProducerSufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens chronology
Aporia
(2020) 		The Ascension
(2020) 		Convocations
(2021)
Singles from The Ascension
  1. "America"
    Released: July 3, 2020
  2. "Video Game"
    Released: August 13, 2020
  3. "Sugar"
    Released: September 15, 2020

The Ascension is the eighth studio album by American musician Sufjan Stevens. It was released through Asthmatic Kitty on September 25, 2020.[2] The record was influenced by a range of artists, particularly Ariana Grande and her 2018 song "Thank U, Next".[3]

Music and lyrics

NPR's Lindsay Zoladz describes The Ascension as "an 80-minute meditation that revisits nearly every one of the grand themes he has explored during his two-decade career: Love, death, faith, desire, place, country, apocalypse, resurrection."[4]

Release

The album's lead single, "America", was released on July 3, 2020.[5] A second single, "Video Game", was released on August 13 along with a music video choreographed by Jalaiah Harmon.[6][7] A third single, "Sugar", and its music video were released on September 15.[8][9]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.9/10[10]
Metacritic80/100[11]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[12]
The A.V. ClubB[13]
Exclaim!10/10[14]
The Independent[15]
Mojo[16]
NME[17]
Paste8.0/10[18]
Pitchfork7.0/10[19]
Record Collector[20]
Slant Magazine[21]
The Sydney Morning Herald[22]

The Ascension received positive reviews upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score out of 100 to ratings from publications, the album received an average score of 80 based on 25 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[11] Music critic Tom Hull gave it an A-minus and said "singer-songwriter" may be "too self-limiting" a designation for Stevens, who "is a pop composer of grand sweep and delicate bearing, an heir to Brian Wilson working on if anything a broader canvas. His is not a style I'm fond of, but half of these songs click for me, and the others seem to be lurking in the depths, awaiting their moment."[23] Pitchfork's Sam Sodomsky, however, was more tempered in his praise, noting: "But despite its allusions to pop music escapism, The Ascension is, by design, kind of a drag: a dark and emotionally distant mood piece whose lyrics rarely touch on the specifics necessary to anchor the music, and whose music is rarely exciting enough to elevate his words."[24]

Year-end lists

Publications' year-end list appearances for The Ascension
Critic/Publication List Rank Ref
Consequence of Sound Top 50 Albums of 2020 19 [25]
Double J Top 50 Albums of 2020 30 [26]
Exclaim! Top 50 Best Albums of 2020 20 [27]
Mojo Top 75 Albums of 2020 50 [28]
The New York Times (Jon Pareles) Best Albums of 2020 1 [29]
Slant Magazine Top 50 Albums of 2020 17 [30]
Under the Radar Top 100 Albums of 2020 13 [31]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Sufjan Stevens

The Ascension track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Make Me an Offer I Cannot Refuse"5:18
2."Run Away with Me"4:07
3."Video Game"4:15
4."Lamentations"3:42
5."Tell Me You Love Me"4:21
6."Die Happy"5:46
7."Ativan"6:32
8."Ursa Major"3:42
9."Landslide"5:04
10."Gilgamesh"3:50
11."Death Star"4:04
12."Goodbye to All That"3:48
13."Sugar"7:36
14."The Ascension"5:56
15."America"12:29

Personnel

  • Sufjan Stevens – vocals (all tracks), drums and percussion (all tracks), Tempest (1–13, 15), electric guitar (1, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15), Prophet '08 (all tracks), Prophet 6 (1–11, 13, 15), Prophet X (1, 4, 7–9, 13–15), piano (2, 5, 14, 15), recorders (11, 15); performance, recording, engineering, arrangement, mixing, production; all original art, layout, design, typography
  • Casey Foubert – bass guitar (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13), vibraphone (1), electric guitar (2, 4, 6–8, 11), lead electric guitar (9, 10, 15); recording and engineering (own contributions)
  • Bryce Dessner – electric guitar (1)
  • Emil Nikolaisen – black magic (1, 8); engineering (own contributions)
  • James McAlister – additional drums and percussion (3–6), vocal cut-up effects (4); recording and engineering (own contributions)
  • TW Walsh – mastering

Charts

Chart performance for The Ascension
Chart (2020) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[32] 28
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[33] 28
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[34] 107
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[35] 59
French Albums (SNEP)[36] 143
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[37] 26
Irish Albums (OCC)[38] 48
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[39] 34
Scottish Albums (OCC)[40] 15
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[41] 96
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[42] 44
UK Albums (OCC)[43] 35
US Billboard 200[44] 90
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[45] 9
US Folk Albums (Billboard)[46] 1
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[47] 31
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[48] 18
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[49] 2

References

  1. ^ Horner, Al (September 25, 2020). "'I have a sense of urgency': Sufjan Stevens wakes from the American dream". The Guardian. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  2. ^ Monroe, Jazz (June 30, 2020). "Sufjan Stevens Announces New Album The Ascension". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  3. ^ "Sufjan Stevens on Making Pop Music in a Crisis". Vanity Fair. September 24, 2020. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  4. ^ Zoladz, Lindsay (September 24, 2020). "Sufjan Stevens' New Album 'The Ascension': Fifty States Of Grey". NPR. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  5. ^ Alter, Rebecca (July 3, 2020). "Sob Through the 3rd of July with Sufjan Stevens's New Track, 'America'". Vulture. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  6. ^ Gregory, Allie (August 13, 2020). "Sufjan Stevens Shares New Single "Video Game"". Exclaim!. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  7. ^ Hughes, Will (August 14, 2020). "Sufjan Stevens Teams Up with 'Renegade' Dancer Jalaiah Harmon for 'Video Game'". The A.V. Club. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  8. ^ Graves, Wren (September 15, 2020). "Sufjan Stevens Unveils New Song "Sugar": Stream". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  9. ^ "Sufjan Stevens shares new track 'Sugar'". DIY. September 15, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  10. ^ "The Ascension by Sufjan Stevens reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  11. ^ a b "The Ascension by Sufjan Stevens Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  12. ^ Deming, Mark. "The Ascension – Sufjan Stevens". AllMusic. Retrieved October 15, 2023.
  13. ^ Colburn, Randall. "Sufjan Stevens rages, despairs, and dances through The Ascension". The A.V. Club. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  14. ^ Gregory, Allie. "Sufjan Stevens Plots a Way Forward from Our Apocalyptic Present on Groundbreaking 'The Ascension'". Exclaim!. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  15. ^ Brown, Helen (September 24, 2020). "A loveably retro fleet of bulky analogue synths course through Sufjan Stevens' The Ascension". The Independent. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  16. ^ Harris, Sophie. "Sufjan Stevens The Ascension". Mojo (November 2020): 89.
  17. ^ Mylrea, Hannah (September 23, 2020). "Sufjan Stevens – 'The Ascension': A sprawling and powerful dissection of modern humanity". NME. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  18. ^ Wolper, Caitlin (September 23, 2020). "Sufjan Stevens' The Ascension Waxes Existential". Paste. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  19. ^ Sodomsky, Sam. "Sufjan Stevens: The Ascension". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  20. ^ "The Ascension – Record Collector Magazine". Record Collector. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  21. ^ Walsh, Jordan (September 20, 2020). "Review: Sufjan Stevens's The Ascension Aims for Great Heights but Often Gets Lost". Slant Magazine. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  22. ^ Divola, Barry (September 25, 2020). "Music reviews: Sufjan Stevens, Idles, A Swayze & the Ghosts and more". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  23. ^ Hull, Tom (October 6, 2020). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  24. ^ Sodomsky, Sam (September 25, 2020). "Sufjan Stevens: The Ascension Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  25. ^ "Top 50 Albums of 2020". Consequence of Sound. December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  26. ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2020". Double J. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. December 9, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  27. ^ "50 Best Albums of 2020". Exclaim!. December 2, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  28. ^ Pearis, Bill. "MOJO's Top 75 Albums of 2020". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  29. ^ Pareles, Jon; Caramanica, Jon; Zoladz, Lindsay (December 2, 2020). "Best Albums of 2020". The New York Times. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  30. ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2020". Slant Magazine. December 9, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  31. ^ "Under the Radar's Top 100 Albums of 2020". Under the Radar. January 15, 2021. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  32. ^ "ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart". Australian Recording Industry Association. October 12, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  33. ^ "Ultratop.be – Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  34. ^ "Ultratop.be – Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  35. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  36. ^ "Top Albums (Week 41, 2020)". Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  37. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  38. ^ "Official Irish Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  39. ^ "Portuguesecharts.com – Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  40. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  41. ^ "Top 100 Albumes – Semana 41: del 2.10.2020 al 8.10.2020" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  42. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  43. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  44. ^ "Sufjan Stevens Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  45. ^ "Sufjan Stevens Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  46. ^ "Sufjan Stevens Chart History (Top Americana/Folk Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
  47. ^ "Sufjan Stevens Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  48. ^ "Sufjan Stevens Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  49. ^ "Sufjan Stevens Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 25, 2020.