{"id":15169,"date":"2020-03-29T17:46:55","date_gmt":"2020-03-29T21:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/?post_type=records&p=15169"},"modified":"2020-03-30T16:29:04","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T20:29:04","slug":"aporia-sufjan-stevens-lowell-brams","status":"publish","type":"records","link":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/en\/records\/aporia-sufjan-stevens-lowell-brams\/","title":{"rendered":"Aporia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After a long discographic silence (except the collaborative project called Planetarium<\/em>), Sufjan Stevens doesn\u2019t return through the main entrance of the building. He chose the door to the garage, where he works with his stepfather Lowell Brams. The latter was the spouse of Stevens\u2019 late mother and the one to whom he owes the first sparks of his passion for music and his exceptional vision. Lowell featured among the memories that Sufjan so beautifully evoked in the opus devoted to his grief for his mother, entitled Carrie and Lowell<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recall that the\nrelationship between Sufjan Stevens and Lowell Brams led them to\nfound the label Ashtmatic Kitty in 1999. Stepfather and stepson are\nnow enjoying a trip to the studio 12 years after launching the opus\nMusic for Insomnia<\/em>, under Lowell\u2019s name with Stevens\u2019\nclose involvement. Since then, the two have continued their creative\ncollaboration, and here is the most recent chapter of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With one exception\n(\u201cThe Runaround\u201d), it\u2019s 21 pieces without words, generally of\nshort duration. Very short, in fact: the sum of these miniatures\nconstitutes a vast fresco, essentially electronic. The aesthetic\ndirections taken illustrate the universes of each, and the chosen\ncommon ground. Modern classical music and sacred music fades in, a\nsoaring chorus of female voices filtered and mixed with synths,\nambient, krautrock, random improvisations, drones…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among his sources of inspiration for this project, Sufjan Stevens cites New Age in general, Ireland\u2019s Enya, the Scottish duo Boards of Canada, the soundtracks of Blade Runner<\/em> (Vangelis), Under The Skin<\/em> (Mica Levi) and Hereditary<\/em> (Colin Stetson), not to mention a strange tribute to Raymond Scott, the famous American composer that Carl Stalling adapted for cartoons (Bugs Bunny, etc.). On the Bandcamp page of this album, an article by John Colpitts (a musician friend of the family) establishes other aesthetic links with the famous composers of the \u201970s and \u201980s: John Carpenter, Wendy Carlos, Mike Oldfield…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is nothing\noutstanding about this blended collage, however. From the beginning\nto the end, it\u2019s an exploration of archaic avenues, leaving an\nimpressions of redundancy, overvalued references, and false leads.\nOne doesn\u2019t doubt that stepfather and stepson worked in harmony,\nand surely they\u2019re happy in this creative process that brings them\ntogether. Good for them. Good for us? \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n