Line #66 Music/CarrieAndLowell


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cl_9.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''[[DespairEventHorizon "We're all]] [[WeAllDieSomeday gonna die."]]'']]
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4	''Carrie & Lowell'' is the seventh studio LP by American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Music/SufjanStevens, released on March 31, 2015. The album is [[CreatorBreakdown autobiographical]], dealing primarily with Stevens’ grieving process following the death of his mother, Carrie, in 2012.
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6	Carrie suffered from depression, schizophrenia, and addiction, and was absent through most of Sufjan’s childhood. Sufjan’s struggle to come to terms with their relationship and to forgive his mother for her abandonment while simultaneously mourning her loss forms the emotional core of the album.
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8	Meanwhile, the "Lowell" of the title refers to Carrie’s second husband and Sufjan’s stepdad, Lowell Brams, who served as a surrogate father for Sufjan and with whom he co-founded his record label, Asthmatic Kitty. (In 2020, the pair also released an instrumental NewAge album they recorded together, entitled ''Aporia''.)
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10	Stylistically, the album marked a return to the stripped-down [[FolkMusic indie folk]] Stevens was known for early in his career, but which he had increasingly moved away from with releases like ''Music/{{Illinois}}'' (BaroquePop) and ''Music/TheAgeOfAdz'' (ElectronicMusic). ''Carrie & Lowell'' features almost no percussion or symphonic elements, consisting instead of lo-fi guitar and keyboard-led songs with occasional understated electronic touches.
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12	Reception from both fans and critics was overwhelmingly positive; it is tied with 2005’s ''Illinois'' as Stevens' highest-rated studio album on Metacritic, and is the site's second-highest-rated album of its release year (after Music/KendrickLamar's ''Music/ToPimpAButterfly'', an album which, incidentally, includes a [[{{Sampling}} sample]] from Stevens' ''The Age of Adz'').
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14	Stevens toured extensively following ''Carrie & Lowell''’s release, performing dynamic [[RearrangeTheSong rearrangements]] of the album’s songs with an accompanying video and light show. He subsequently released his first ever LiveAlbum, ''Carrie & Lowell Live'', in 2017. (This is currently his best-rated release on Metacritic, scoring one point higher than the studio version itself!) Stevens also put out a companion EP, ''The Greatest Gift Mixtape: Outtakes, Remixes, and Demos from Carrie & Lowell'', the same year.
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16	!!Tracklist:
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18	# "Death with Dignity" (4:00)
19	# "Should Have Known Better" (5:08)
20	# "All of Me Wants All of You" (3:41)
21	# "Drawn to the Blood" (3:18)
22	# "Eugene" (2:26) [[note]] On the vinyl release, "Eugene" is positioned between "Carrie & Lowell" and "John My Beloved."[[/note]]
23	# "Fourth of July" (4:40)
24	# "The Only Thing" (4:44)
25	# "Carrie & Lowell" (3:14)
26	# "John My Beloved" (5:03)
27	# "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross" (2:40)
28	# "Blue Bucket of Gold" (4:44)
29	----
30	!!''Carrie & Lowell'' contains examples of the following tropes:
31	* AccidentalMisnaming / AffectionateNickname: According to "Eugene", his stepfather initially had difficulty remembering Sufjan's name:
32	-->''The man who taught me to swim, he couldn't quite say my first name\
33	Like a father, he led community water on my head\
34	And he called me "Subaru"''
35	* AlbumTitleDrop: In the TitleTrack.
36	* AnachronicOrder: The album jumps from the present to the past then back again, sometimes in the course of the same song; the event that opens the album (the titular Carrie's death) isn't discussed in detail until mid-album.
37	* AudienceParticipationSong: "Fourth of July," as demonstrated on the LiveAlbum. It's definitely curious hearing a crowd scream in unison, "We're all gonna die!"
38	* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: From "Should Have Known Better":
39	-->''My brother had a daughter\
40	The beauty that she brings, illumination.''
41	* BathSuicide: Discussed in "The Only Thing".
42	-->''The only thing that keeps me from cutting my arm\
43	Cross hatch, warm bath, Holiday Inn after dark...''
44	* BittersweetEnding: The album ends with "Blue Bucket of Gold", in which Sufjan (after admitting his deep emotional wounds in "John My Beloved" and unsuccessfully attempting to heal them in "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross") begins quietly moving on from his mother's death. He pleads for someone to fill the hole left with her departure, whether it be a friend or God, and the song ends with an ambient crescendo that, [[WordOfGod according to Sufjan]], symbolizes him finally letting go and surrendering his mother to the beyond.
45	* BizarreInstrument: [[https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000117156794-rj4gdq-t500x500.jpg The guitalin]] — a lute-like instrument invented in the 1960s — featured heavily in the album and its subsequent live shows.
46	* ButLiquorIsQuicker: "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross".
47	-->''Like a champion, get drunk to get laid''.
48	* CallBack:
49	** In a nod to the "Eugene" lyric about Sufjan receiving the AffectionateNickname of "Subaru" from his stepfather, the ''Greatest Gift'' track "The Hidden River of My Life'' has Sufjan describing himself as a "Subaru driver".
50	** In "Should Have Known Better" Sufjan sings "My brother had a daughter / The beauty that she brings, illumination". His ''Call Me By Your Name'' track "Mystery of Love", released two years later, includes the line "Cursed by the love that I received / From my brother's daughter".
51	* CarpeDiem: From "Fourth of July":
52	-->''Make the most of your life, while it is rife, while it is light.''
53	* CrisisOfFaith: This is one possible interpretation of "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross."
54	* DarkerAndEdgier: Considering it concerns his mother's death and the emotional toll it took on him, this is easily his heaviest album lyrically.
55	* DarkestHour: During the downward spiral detailed on the album, "John My Beloved" is the start of his realization of [[WhatHaveIBecome what he has become]], but "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross" is where he fully hits rock bottom, noting how he has tried distracting himself from his emotions with unhealthy behaviors like sleeping around and drug abuse.
56	* DespairEventHorizon: Thanks to the AnachronicOrder of the depicted events, this happens on various songs in ''Carrie & Lowell'', with "Should Have Known Better" providing the most blatant lyrics:
57	-->''Don’t back down, there is nothing left\
58	The breakers in the bar, no reason to live''
59	* DestructiveRomance: "Drawn to the Blood.” See DomesticAbuse below.
60	* DomesticAbuse: The narrator in "Drawn to the Blood" suffers this. It unfortunately has a RealitySubtext; from the April 2015 issue of ''Uncut'' magazine:
61	-->Asked whether the abusive relationship described in "Drawn To The Blood" was [Sufjan's] own, he simply answers, "Yes."
62	* DoubleMeaning: "No shade in the shadow of the cross", from the song of the same name, could refer to two opposite things: the narrator is either able to escape the ghost (i.e. shade) of his mother through religion, ''or'' he's unable to find relief in religion.
63	* DownerEnding: The album itself has more of a BittersweetEnding (as discussed above), but most of the individual tracks end on dark notes:
64	** "Death with Dignity" (''"You'll never see us again."'')
65	** "Drawn to the Blood" (''What did I do to deserve this now? / How did this happen?"'')
66	** "Eugene" (''"What's the point of singing songs / If they'll never even hear you?"'')
67	** "Fourth of July" (''"We're all gonna die."'')
68	** "The Only Thing" (''"Should I tear my heart out now? / Everything I feel returns to you somehow."'')
69	** "Carrie & Lowell" (''"Ephemera on my back / She breaks my arm."'')
70	** "John My Beloved" (''"There's only a shadow of me / In a matter of speaking I'm dead."'')
71	** "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross" (''"There's no shade in the shadow of the cross."'')
72	* DrivenToSuicide: The narrator of "The Only Thing" comes close to this, fantasizing about slitting his arms in a bath, but decides against it after surveying the beautiful things he still sees in life.
73	* DrowningMySorrows: A prominent theme of the album.
74	-->''Now I'm drunk and afraid, wishing the world would go away.''
75	* ElevenOClockNumber: "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross", the penultimate track, represents Sufjan hitting the bottom of his emotional downward spiral.
76	* FolkMusic: Along with 2004's ''Seven Swans'', ''C&L'' is one of the most straightforward forays into the genre in Sufjan's catalog.
77	* GriefSong: An album full of them.
78	* HappierHomeMovie: On the ''Carrie & Lowell'' tour, a few of the songs use home movies as a backdrop, often in contrast to their sad tones.
79	* HeroicBSOD: Of the RealLifeWritesThePlot variety. Most of the album documents Sufjan's journey to emotional rock bottom in the wake of his mother's death. In an interview he described this period as "a year of real darkness."
80	* HomoeroticSubtext: As often happens with Sufjan's music, several songs on the album hint quite strongly at romantic and sexual relationships between men. See HoYay on the YMMV page.
81	* HookersAndBlow: It gives the narrator of "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross" no comfort at all.
82	* ListSong: "The Only Thing", [[NonindicativeName despite its title]], is a list of ''multiple'' things that the existentially bereft narrator deems WorthLivingFor.
83	* LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Just one of the coping mechanisms attempted by the AuthorAvatar throughout the album.
84	* LoveHurts: "Drawn to the Blood" ("but my prayer has always been love — what did I do to deserve this?")
85	* LyricalDissonance: The album is full of pretty melodies accompanying stories of parental neglect, death of loved ones, substance abuse, DomesticAbuse, failed relationships, SelfHarm, and suicidal thoughts.
86	* {{Minimalism}} / ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: ''C&L'' sees Sufjan at his most stripped-down, with minimum instrumentation, lo-fi production values, and a run time of well under an hour. In some ways this is about as far from ''Music/{{Illinois}}'' as it gets. (The LiveAlbum, on the other hand, [[RearrangeTheSong reimagines several of the tracks]] in a much more bombastic way.)
87	* MissingMom: Sufjan's complicated feelings surrounding his rarely present mother Carrie are a common theme throughout ''C&L''.
88	* NameAndName: ''Carrie & Lowell''.
89	* ParentalNeglect: The album’s underlying theme.
90	* PelvicThrust: Done during live performances of "All of Me Wants All of You", presumably to make it clear that the song is indeed about a sexual relationship.
91	* PrecisionFStrike: On "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross":
92	-->''There's blood on that blade''
93	-->''Fuck me, I'm falling apart''
94	* RearrangeTheSong: ''The Greatest Gift'' EP includes remixes and demo versions of several ''Carrie and Lowell'' tracks, and the recordings on the ''C&L'' LiveAlbum often feature extensive rearrangement as well.
95	** There are at least five versions of "Fourth of July" spread across Sufjan's discography: the album version, the live version, the PPD remix (BSide to the "Exploding Whale" single), the 900X remix (from ''The Greatest Gift''), and the April Base and DUMBO versions (demo recordings released as part of a special single in 2022).
96	* SelfHarm: Referenced extensively.
97	* SexForSolace: Part of "No Shade In The Shadow of the Cross" may be describing this.
98	--> ''Like a champion''
99	--> ''Get drunk to get laid''
100	* ShoutOut: There are quite a few of them throughout the album, for example:
101	** "Death with Dignity" references the fable of the little Red Hen, wherein an industrious barnyard animal does all the hard work to make bread while the other animals laze around.
102	** The indifferent partner in "All of Me Wants All of You" is compared to Poseidon, the ancient Greek god of the sea.
103	** "Drawn to the Blood" references the myth of Samson and Delilah.
104	** "In the Shadow of the Cross" is a hymn by William J. Henry.
105	* WeAllDieSomeday: The repeated refrain of "we're all gonna die" from "Fourth of July".
106	* WorthLivingFor: "The Only Thing", whose narrator contemplates suicide but ultimately decides not to go through with it after witnessing all the natural wonders around him.

Context Music / CarrieAndLowell