Bleep

In the five years since the tearful odes of Carrie & Lowell, Sufjan Stevens has been rediscovering his electronic proclivities. The Ascension is a culmination of those excursions, executed with dense, shimmering production and an all-together pop sensibility. Billed as an upbeat LP for a humanity in crisis mode, the LP contains some of Stevens’ catchiest tunes. ‘Sugar’ and ‘Video Game’ bop like indie pop takes on a Drake song, complete with technicolour instrumentation and a twang of melancholia, as the mammoth-sized ‘America’ contains resonances of Stevens’ finest epic closing tracks; full of quotable lyrics and shuttering electronic rhythms.