Sufjan Stevens - Javelin ALBUM REVIEW 

You know an album is actually meaningful to a lot of people when even a Fantano comment section loses the humor and focuses on the album

Crazy to see someone with the robust catalog of Sufjan to still be able to show growth and emotion in new music. Such a gorgeous album

RIP Evans Richardson. Such a lovely tribute and album from an equally lovely man.

The “I don’t wanna fight at all / I will always love you” in Shit Talk with the backing vocals and final crescendo into the wall of sound is one of the most powerful and beautiful things I’ve ever heard in my life

This is your redemption arc after your Carrie and Lowell review

Over 20 years into his career, and he just released what could be his best album ever

This album devastates me, knowing what circumstances surround the album. The music touches with me on a level I haven’t really felt before. I can listen but the moment I dig into the lyrics I cry and am not able to finish. It’s almost too beautiful for me. And it makes me feel almost guilty knowing how much Sufjan put into it. I pray Sufjan recovers, and that he finds the peace he’s brought so many.

The 4th "Hold me closely, hold me tight" from Sufjan is so heart wrenching and beautiful, it gives me chills and I just wanna rewind it every time I hear it.

This album is a perfect 10 in my opinion. Doesn’t put a foot wrong, absolutely stunning musical performance. The context of the album is devastating, but Sufjan finds a way to channel his grief into absolute beauty, while still retaining the element of sadness. With this album he has mastered his craft.

Layers upon layers of pain. Losing what is essentially a soul mate and then struggling with a debilitating illness. I did not think he could expand the thematic, unresolved grief from Carrie and Lowell, however I do believe this is a man's soul baring moment that is one for the modern ages. It is bittersweet because only through immense pain can a seminal work be so thorough. Pure art, in other words.

Album so good the comments are serious for once

Shit Talk is one of the most beautiful songs i've ever listened to, i've never seen before a song capture so accurately the feeling of a relationship falling apart with toxicity and constant fighting to the point you feel like you can't be near that person anymore, "i will always love you but i cannot look at you", and the final part where Sufjan keeps singing "i don't wanna fight at all" because it happened so much it made him exausted of it while "i will always love you" keeps being said by the backing vocals is just perfection, one of his BEST songs ever.

Sufjan hasn't sounded so LUSH since Illinois and his lyrics are beautiful and sad. This is my album of the year and I am so grateful for Sujan's generosity and artistry for sharing this with us.

Such a wonderful, touching record. It combines so many of Sufjan’s sounds from over the years so well. It’s sure to stay in my rotation for a very long time.

One of the most cohesive and lush albums I’ve ever in a good minute. Album of the year in my book. Rest in peace to Evans. Stay strong Sufjan! We all love you!

Even though the context of the album and themes in the songs are so heartbreaking, it also feels so hopeful for what is to come in the future (especially on the final track). Sufjan gives me hope to overcome obstacles in my life, and I hope he does for you as well.

For someone who’s so reserved,I think Sufjan’s songwriting is top tier because in this like 30-40 minute stretch,he gives us so much information about this relationship and loss and it’s just crushing. Really hurts to listen to,I really want Sufjan to be okay,always been one of my favorites. This and the Armand Hammer record are my favorites this year and they couldn’t be any more different

I put this album on last night while i was high, and I have never cried so hard in a long time…for no apparent reasons either. It was a cathartic session, one i didn’t know i needed. Definitely gonna be one of my fave albums this year!

Sufjan Stevens is arguably one of the greatest singer-songwriters of his generation. I don't think he gets enough credit for being a great lyricist either. The lyrics in 'Shit Talk: "I will always love you, but I cannot look at you" are so simple yet so impactful.

This was my first time checking out a Sufjan album and it’s honestly brought me back to how I felt listening to my first Bjork album (vespertin). There’s a strange magic to stumbling across some of an artist’s greatest work on a whim, and it makes me excited to dive deeper into his catalog

One of the most beautiful albums I've ever heard. This remind me of Mount Eerie's Crow, two albums about love and death that hit you like "This is the prettiest album ever, I don't wanna touch this ever again"

I unironically think this is an improvement over Carrie And Lowell, and possibly his highest point since Illinois. Hope everything actually gets better for him and that he continues to make great art like this again and again ☺️ also genuinely cannot believe that he is 48

My new favourite Sufjan record. Deserved score!

Beyond grateful to Sufjan for this experience. This record has easily cemented itself into my top 3 albums of his, and is my AOTD so far. Incredible stuff, RIP Evans Richardson.

10/10, no debate. I’ve never enjoyed an album so thoroughly as this one. Every song is perfect in its own way.

I cried listening to the album. Then I thought “Shit Talk” was the resolution of this sadness. Then I read his Instagram post. It felt like a javelin stabbed right through my heart 😭 I just wanna give Sufjan a good long hug.

This is my first introduction to sufjan stevens I had no prior info about what the album is abt or of the artist and all I came back to is recasted but in a hopeful way. I legit started crying on the end of shit talk it’s literally so beautiful and now knowing more information on sufjan screens ima have to delist me this again because this album is one of the most heartbreaking and heart lifting piece of music I heard

as someone who has lost a partner, this album tore me apart. it really means a lot to me hah

Well deserved for Sufjan. He’s gone through so much and this release shows his emotional and character growth. It’s so beautiful and cinematic, I can’t get enough. I honestly think it ends too soon, but that isn’t a critique as much as a request.

I’ve never written down a video before, but I MUST now because Javelin’s touched every fibre of my body while listening to it. We can definitely feel the pain. It’s a 10 for me, new classic

Each song is a masterpiece together with the whole album. Sufjan's entire repertoire in one album. A huge gift for your ears.

Just listened to Planetarium again, completely missed that great Album! Just amazing how consistent and always refreshing Sufjans music is. ❤

Crazy how there's still musicians out there from my youth still making music. Sufjan Stevens, bright eyes and spoon.

This is one of those albums that you confidently feel will be looked back as a classic, defining album of the time. Maybe not one that is influential, but one that everyone will remember fondly as something that moved us all in the moment and perhaps beyond. It feels like one of the most special albums we've gotten as music fans in several years, regardless of the context that makes it hit deeper. This record must cement Sufjan's legacy as one of the forefront songwriters of our time.

i love how these reviews open up my mind to new music. thank you Anthony for letting me know the amazing record exists.

Comes out just in time for me to spend the whole winter crying to it too, good on you Sufjan

I’ve never heard of this guy but my uncle has the same disease he was diagnosed with. He still can’t walk after 2 years. Incredibly debilitating disease with no warning. Can’t imagine.

I'd sort of gone from being a real big fan slowly making my way through Sufjan's back catalogue, to kind of not making as much time to absorb his albums fully as I found myself getting busier over these past couple of years... Now with this new album being so personal and finding out all the context behind it has motivated me to go back and make the effort to listen through all his stuff in my own time (especially now that I collect vinyl!). Sufjan is truly one of the greatest artists of our generation.

"Please subscribe and please don't cry..." TOO FUCKING LATE, MELON. I'M ALREADY SUBSCRIBED AND NOW I'M CRYING LISTENING TO THIS ALBUM ON LOOP, YOU MONSTER. 😭 In all seriousness, I've gotten to the point where I can't listen to "Shit Talk" at all without fighting tears. It just paints this beautiful, haunting picture of a complicated relationship on the verge of an inevitable untimely end, and the overwhelming plea to put aside all of the complications for the sake of love in these final moments, because in the end, none of those things matter as much as their love, even as they painfully grieve the lack of closure. Stevens hasn't hit me this hard since "Casimir Pulaski Day". Fuck, man. It's almost a shame how devastating this album is for me, because I could keep listening to this album for hours just for its sheer beauty, but my heart just can't take the emotional rollercoaster of it all.

it's been a whole week and I still can't help but cry whenever i hear Shit Talk, what a wonderfully heartbreaking song

Absolutely beautiful album, in every sense of the word. I haven't felt this strong about a Sufjan record since Age of Adz.

i LOVE getting my heart broken thank u sufjan

Can't believe fantano still hasn't put out a review for oneohtrix point never's "again"... please!

I can't stop listening to this album since the day it came out! So beautiful!

I love this album so much, sufjan has been through so much it aches me, I hope he’s going to be okay😢

Javelin has to be my song of the year. I'm fully obsessed. I cried the first time I listened

I'm a simple man, i saw fantano reviewing Sufjan Stevens, I click

Strong case for “So You Are Tired” as song of the year. Tough competition against Burfict! And Cowboy Nudes but I think it stands

Not appreciating the shade to his previous albums because they were masterpieces too.

I love this record. So gorgeous and so moving. Shit talk is one of my two favourites (alongside So You Are Tired), but personally I don't interpret it the same as Anthony. I am guessing that it was written before Evans died, and that it is about giving up on a relationship despite still loving the person, but not having the energy to fight anymore - not declaring love for someone who has passed. I believe that Evan's passing is referenced elsewhere in the record, but not on that track. It feels closely related to So You Are Tired.

This album feels like the instrumental lushness and beauty of his early albums like Illinois with the lyrical weigh of C&L, a culmination of much of what he's made before into one beautiful piece of work

This album is perfect.

Everything that rises must converge is a reference to the French priest and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: "Remain true to yourself, but move ever upward toward greater consciousness and greater love! At the summit you will find yourselves united with all those who, from every direction, have made the same ascent. For everything that rises must converge."

Everything that rises must converge is beautiful theology that sums up Sufjan’s message perfectly, “Remain true to yourself, but move ever upward toward greater consciousness and greater love. At the summit you will find yourselves united with all those who, from every direction, have made the same ascent. For everything that rises must converge” Also could be referring to the Flannery O’Connor collection of short stories that basically has the same message

i have literally had this album on repeat since it came out, it's devastating beautiful hopeful

I just can’t get over the fact that he wrote both Casimir Pulaski Day and this.

Such a fantastic album, might be my AOTY

strong agree. deeply moving record and it was so cool to first experience it with you and the NMF fam on twitch, as silly as that sounds.

I’m a moderate fan but this is his best work in my opinion and that’s on every level, his lyrics are poetic but clear and they are delivered with more range than usual. The song arrangements and instrumentation is complex without getting muddy or cluttered . The entire thing is perfectly cohesive. Even without the backstory it’s a heavy listen but knowing the backstory it’s absolutely gutting. It’s a 10 for me and an instant classic.

So happy to see this album getting all the love it deserves 🩵

Unbelievable beautiful. The ambient break down on Shit Talk might be his greatest moment ever

Love this album 😩. Would love to see a review for Hannah Diamonds new album

I really did love this. It's a beautiful distillation of the kind of music he has made previously, which is also pleasing

It feels like classic Sufjan songwriting with his more recent experimental electronic music ornamenting it all perfectly

Album of the year EASILY

The way Sufjan contorts his voice on Shit talk is one of the most beautiful things I've heard, especially given the context of the record

Decent-to-strong 9 is the highest score this year.

i really hope sufjan is doing so much better

as someone who has never listened to sujfan and hasn’t listened to the album either, i was gonna make a typical ‘ty for giving me my opinion melon’ but that would be quite disrespectful given the context of this record, and i will now listen to it later tn.

The beauty he channels through this album from the grittiest of grief and pain provides hope for us all❤

Beautiful piece of work

Sufjan’s best since Illinois, super emotional record

I know this man turns his grief into beautiful art but can we all agree that this man must be protected at all costs? someone get him all the happiness please.

perfect score, melon 😭😭 one of the most beautiful records of the year

When you doing the new Kylie Minogue "Tension" album? Been waiting for weeks. I absolutely adore Javelin. Very moving record.

Cool review Anthony but when's code orange?

I would call this one a strong 9 possibly a 10? It's brilliant from beginning to end!

I've been listening every day and recommending to friends. Just love it. I knew about his sickness, but not his partner. Heartbreaking.

total 10/10 for me. one of the mstt devastating and heartbreaking albums of all time.

cool review. any chance we're going to get a review on the new OPN album?

Just curious if there will be an AnCo review coming soon

Should do a REDUX for Carrie & Lowell (At least an 8)

Really lovely to see this community dropping their usual memes, and just really love this album! Just really lovely pieces of music

Album of the Year. Just stunning. I guess it might get "Best Alternative Album" or something like that, but it's the Best overall, imho, and the best album Sufjan has ever made.

Every listen I give this album makes my heart grow 10x larger. please help

This album is extremely beautifully... painful. A bright sadness. But still for me Stevens is that guy who wrote 4th of July. And this composition is an unbeatable masterpiece.

All of his best music is so fucking tragic. Casimir Pulaski Day is probably his best song and this whole album feels like if that song grew up and became an album. More than any other album, this feels like the culmination of a long and elustrious career lived along a life of tremendous loss and personal struggles, all of his past really shines through with this one. I still think Illinois is probably a better album, but this is a close second for me.

IT'S A 10!!!!! it's the perfect balance between the production of AoA, the tunes of Illinois, the simplicity of C&L It's intimacy, and hope, and fear and love. It's short, but it would have been too long otherwise. You haven't anything bad to say about it It's a 10

I loved this album. Absolute tear jerkers on this record from front to back. It's really an awesome album which is gorgeous and somber and powerful from start to finish. Great job Sufjan Stevens.

10/10 for ke for sure. Sufjan is a an absolute giant and in the league of some of the best living songwriters today.

Was waiting for this

My introduction to Sufjan, and Shit Talk absolutely blew me away. One of my favorite songs ever already

we gon need an A Great Chaos rating lil bro

fantano, as a huge fan of Sufjan and you, please give me more retro reviews for Sufjan´s records

decent to strong 9 basically means 10. new 10 confirmed.

yoo can you review the new Lamp record? it’s absolutely beautiful

very beautiful and touching record that will mean a lot for a long time to come for so many people :’) (also please review the new lamp album mr. fantano)

Devastating record, Sufjan is such an authentic songwriter it's impossible not to feel some sort of emotion from it

I completely forgot about Sufjan. I'll have to check out this album soon and maybe take a little walk back in his discography to see what he was up to.

I gotta get my hands on that Akira laserdisc