About six months ago, Sufjan Stevens released the sweeping, ambitious album Ascension. Two days after its release, Stevens’ biological father died. In response, Stevens started working on a massive, overwhelming new project called Convocations. That project swiftly took on extreme dimensions. Next month, Stevens will release Convocatio...

Roberto Carlos Lange, aka Helado Negro, has signed to the storied indie label 4AD following an accomplished decade-plus discography with Sufjan Stevens' Asthmatic Kitty label and RVNGIntl -- most recently, 2019's great This Is How You Smile and this past summer's Kite Symphony EP, a collaboration with visual artist Kristi Sword crafted in Lange'...

"Is it all for nothing?" Sufjan Stevens cries out. "Is it all part of a plan?" This anguished outburst arrives about halfway through The Ascension, his first proper solo album in more than five years, on a song named for the seizure and anxiety medication Ativan. Over the track's jittery electronic pulse, he later utters,…

It's been more than five years since Sufjan Stevens released his last proper solo album, the hushed and ghostly acoustic lament Carrie & Lowell. That drought will end next week with the release of a lengthy and electronically inclined new opus called The Ascension. Sufjan has already shared two songs from the project, the doleful&#8...