This is better than the studio version

This is better than the studio version.

really enjoying this so far, thanks for reminding me

nah

it's just as good i think, just takes a different angle.

one things for sure
that hotline bling cover is much better than the original

>Planetarium coming out soon
>C&L live album
What a good time to get back into Sufjan.

>live album is AOTY

Don't forget the C&L outtakes and remixes album out in October

Wouldn't mind a new Sisyphus album as well 2bh

I sort of wish he staggered his releases but being bombarded all is too euphoric. All Delighted People being dropped with no warning is still one of my favorite musical experiences.

Same. Was there any consensus on how people felt about it? I really enjoyed it, but I don't see it mentioned often.

I mostly enjoyed it but it was really disjointed. It felt like everyone did their parts separately and someone glued it all together.

>that 4th of July
Damn I wasn't ready

I thought Carrie and Lowell was probably his worst record to date, but this blew my socks off.
I haven't heard it discussed much myself, but it was a bit of a let down since it came after Age of Adz, which is my favorite by him. Just felt a lot less emotional, and Serenghetti's rapping did nothing for me.

On another note, you guys hyped for Planetarium?

Didn't expect a live album to be AOTY.

this is probably my aotysf17

>I thought Carrie and Lowell was probably his worst record to date
Don't talk to me. Nah, but I think it's funny you say that since Adz and Carrie are my favorite of his.

Also I've got 5 years of hype built up for Planetarium. I'm reeling it in though because it seems like they're going to be paring down a lot of the instrumentals (just based on the past live performances of 'Mercury' and the new, studio version) and I don't want to set myself up for disappointment.

Hope they extend the tour dates and location to the East Coast or something, though.
>tfw finally in the US during a Sufjan tour and he'll only be in LA and NYC

C&L is just a retread of a sound he did far better earlier in his career (Seven Swans) and the sound is literally shit on a few tracks (you can hear the air-conditioner). Despite having a beautiful voice, and being able to use filtering effects on his vocals with outstanding results (in Age of Adz) they just seem unnecessary here (as proven by the live version, that does away with them mostly).

TL;DR: He did this before and better, poor SQ and poor use of vocal filters.

Why do you think its one of his best?

>the sound is literally shit on a few tracks
what is lo-fi
And what's more, aside from being acoustic, there's nothing in common between Seven Swans and Carrie

>Lo-fi
Yup, he was out of ideas after Adz and Sisyphus so making it sound like shit was the only approach he hadn't taken yet.
>The only similarity is both being accoustic
Not true. He is playing far more of the instruments himself here, and it shows. Things are more sparse and simple, and with better results. In the end, despite C&L being about his personal life and experiences (which people related to heavily, which is why the album was so well liked), Seven Swans sounds more intimate.

Not the guy you're talking to, but I think the lo-fi approach works really well on a track like No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross, where it compliments Suf's shaky whisper to give the whole song a very defeated and downtrodden kind of vibe. Sevens Swans just doesn't have the same kind of thematic consistency and has a bad habit of overstaying its welcome, which is something that Suf only fixes on other albums by going completely scattershot and fractured.

C&L just has some of the best and most immediate melody crafting of his career too. Perhaps SS is more sparse but it dips into monotony because of that, and it gets fairly easy to lose the thread of each song's narrative.

I mean, my main issue with this live version is that some of the arrangements are pretty cheasy and overblown and just don't interface well with the intimacy of the studio album.

It's kind of like what happened to Townes Van Zandt's studio albums, lots of unnecessary arrangements that take away from the raw beauty of 1 guy and a guitar (with slightly more going on in C&L, but you get the idea).

The audio quality is mostly because of how the album was conceived. Carrie and Lowell was a set of demos he made for himself while he was grieving. A friend of his dug through them, picked out the best ones, made a tracklist, produced it, etc. (This and Seven Swans being the two albums Sufjan didn't produce himself). Stuff like No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross were recorded with his iPhone.

I'm not saying it makes the album better it's just good to know it wasn't even supposed to be an album. I agree Carrie and Lowell is weaker though especially after releasing things like All Delighted People and Age of Adz.

>most immediate melody crafting
Wtf does this even mean?

>that fucking electronic guitar solo at the end of C&L Live's version of All of Me Wants All of You

It's catchy as fuck, you immediately get the gist of the song's emotions, what the fuck do you think it means?