Sufjan Stevens announces new album ‘Reflections’
American indie artist Sufjan Stevens has announced a new studio album collaboration with pianists Timo Andres and Conor Hanick.
Reflections was originally composed by Stevens as a score to the ballet of the same name. Commissioned by the Houston Ballet, Reflections originally premiered in March of 2019. The piece was choreographed by Justin Peck, who had previously collaborated with Stevens on 2012’s Year of the Rabbit, 2014’s Everywhere We Go, 2016’s In the Countenance of Kings, 2017’s The Decalogue, and 2019’s Principia.
“[Reflections] is all about energy, light and duality”, Stevens says in a statement. “I’m constantly thinking about bodies moving through space when I’m writing for ballet — that is what has informed this music, first and foremost”.
“Although I’ve never taken a lesson the piano was my first true love,” Stevens added. “Having two of them at my disposal was an exciting opportunity and gave me a real catharsis about the expansiveness of the instrument”.
“I learned by ear, in a very rudimentary way, inspired by a wide range of music”, he also states. “A lot of the work that I compose is anachronistic as it doesn’t follow a genealogy of aesthetic. It can be a cornucopia of styles.”
Check out the first single from the album, ‘Ekstasis’, down below. Reflections is set for a May 19th release.
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