Crazy-talented indie folk singer and multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens is really doing something different this go-around. His seventh album, Carrie & Lowell, felt enormously personal in its thematic exploration of Stevens’ experiences with life and death, love and loss, and that unsettling feeling of ‘limbo’ when you’re trying desperately to make sense of it all. (A notable first for the frequently fictionalizing musician.) Turning all that vulnerability on its head, Stevens has shared a remix of the album’s closing tune—”Blue Bucket of Gold”—to add a slightly more uplifting mood to the song’s emotional weight.
This remix features members of Stevens’ touring band expanding on their live iteration of the song (the original track is a more isolated, self-reflective experience). It’s sure to delight those fans of some of Stevens’ more recent work, like All Delighted People and The BQE, without going full-tilt into the trippiness the singer so often used in projects like The Age of Adz. It’s playful without losing poignancy.
If you like the remix, it’s available via iTunes and Spotify. And Stevens is currently on tour, so be sure to check out the dates. His live show is truly one of a kind—have you ever wanted to go to a concert where you feel like the singer is performing to just you? That is what Stevens effortlessly achieves, and it’s mesmerizing.
What do you think of his remix of “Blue Bucket of Gold”? Better than the original? Let us know in the comments below.
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IMAGE: Tammy Lo/Creative Commons
