Sufjan Stevens has released two new tracks, ‘Love Yourself’ and ‘With My Whole Heart’, in celebration of Pride Month.
A portion of proceeds from the songs will be donated to two organisations – the Ali Forney Center in New York’s Harlem, and Detroit’s Ruth Ellis Center. Both give support for LGBTQ and homeless children in America.
‘Love Yourself’ began life over 20 years ago, while ‘With My Whole Heart’ is brand new and was written as a personal challenge to “write an upbeat and sincere love song without conflict, anxiety or self-deprecation”, according to a press release.
The tracks are now available on all digital platforms and will be released on limited edition 7-inch vinyl on June 28. The two tracks come backed with the original 4-track demo of ‘Love Yourself’ that Stevens recorded in 1996 and a short instrumental reprise of the same song. You can listen to the EP above now.
Stevens has also designed a special t-shirt for Pride, which features his first name printed six times on the shirt in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. It is available to purchase now from his merch platform, Sufjamz.
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The tracks follow the release of Stevens’ rare track ‘Lonely Man Of Winter’ last year. Previously shared with only one fan as part of the musician’s “Xmas Song Xchange Contest” in 2007, the song was finally made available to all last November.
Last year, the singer-songwriter was invited to become a member of The Academy following his Oscar-nominated work on the soundtrack for Call Me By Your Name.