The Ascension is American musician Sufjan Stevens’ eighth studio album, released on September 25th, through the label Asthmatic Kitty. The Electropop album consists of 15 songs taking up an hour and 20 minutes.
Stevens calls The Ascension “his protest album.” In his song “America,” he is on his knees trying to understand how everything he was taught to believe in – religion and patriotism, have all been turned upside down for him. For him, it’s “a protest song against the sickness of American culture in particular.”
The accompanying instrumentals to the song are just as disconnected and eerie as its message. The lyrics “don’t do to me what you did to America” and “I have put my hands in the wounds of your side,” a reference to the biblical story of the apostle Thomas doubting Jesus has been resurrected from the dead and insists he put in hands into the wound, intertwine the ethos of America and religion.
Both are something you grow up to believe is great and powerful, but slowly discover the harsh truths that maybe it’s all a lie. Stevens is disillusioned and doesn’t know what to believe in anymore. Once proud of his home state, growing up in Michigan, he stated he is “ashamed to admit I no longer believe.” He’s lost and hopeless, as many are feeling right now.
The rest of the songs on the album are just as melodic. His song “Die Happy” just repeats “I wanna die happy” 21 times. Sung over and over, Stevens makes it into a mantra.This song comes after “Tell Me You Love Me,” a song people interpret as a plea with God to intervene and love him even though he is losing his faith in God and in the American Dream.
The title track “The Ascension” is equally chilling, Stevens sings “I thought I could change the world around me / I thought I could change the world for best / I thought I was called in convocation / I thought I was sanctified and blessed.” but there is no resolution, the “what now” has no answer.
The listener has no repree, they join Stevens in the marination of American disenchantment. Unlike the Biblical ascension of Jesus into heaven, we on earth are left to contemplate the slow tempo and sometimes jostling beats of his chants.
