Sufjan Stevens’ last national tour was in early 2011, just a few months after he released The Age of Adz. The live show embraced that album’s challenge to present intelligent avant-pop music you could dance to. A follow up LPdidn’t come until early last year, and boy did it showcase a different side of Stevens. Carrie & Lowell was notably inspired by the death of his mother, with whom he shared a less than joyous relationship, and it found Stevens at his most introspective and blunt. Correspondingly, tonight’s show vastly deviated from the extroversion that came with the Adz material.
There’s always been a spiritual element to the Detroit songwriter’s output, but on Carrie & Lowell the prospect of a harmonious afterlife isn’t enough to preclude feelings of regret and existential inevitability. That said, the studio and the stage are different arenas, conducive to the conjuring of different emotions, which was evidenced tonight.
The setlist revolved around Carrie & Lowell, but while it’s a relatively pared back album, it’s not lacking in textual depth. Stevens is a skilled composer and arranger, and the record’s deft intricacies were recreated with help from an exceptionally versatile ensemble, contributing keys, synths, Casiotone and electronics, drums, guitars and other peculiar stringed instruments, as well as trombone and choral backing vocals.
To give an indication of how impressive the quartet of backing musicians was, James McAlister’s drumming was worthy of its own showcase, and yet it was never more than an assistant feature. On the other hand, Dawn Landes’ backing vocals might’ve also played a supporting role, but they were so divinely rendered as to command infatuation.
Backed by such technical prowess and a lighting show of equal merit, Stevens was left to embody the emotional psyche of his songs. On occasion, the stark substance threatened his composure, but despite such a sombre focus, the show had an uplifting effect. As Stevens told us during the extended encore, losing a loved one emphasises the imperative to live life to its fullest. All things go, we’re all going to die, but Sufjan Stevens is doing something to inspire those he’ll eventually leave behind.
LOVED: The band.
HATED: The Church.
DRANK: Tears from my cheeks.
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
