REVIEW: Sufjan Stevens' Carrie and Lowell, Ten Years Later

There are a handful of albums that I've listened to front-to-back over and over hundreds of times throughout my life. These records are not only a collection of songs, but carry a powerful throughline from start to finish. Death Cab for Cutie's Transatlanticism, Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, The Mountain Goats' The Sunset Tree, Joni Mitchell's Blue, Frank Ocean's Blonde, and Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. If you've pegged me for a Tumblr-era /mu/core Millennial hipster, then you're more than correct. More recently, I've been listening to Little Simz Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, Phoebe Bridgers' Punisher, and Lizzy McAlpine's Older (and Wiser) the same way. One of these albums that's had a profound influence on me and my life has been Sufjan Stevens' 7th LP, Carrie and Lowell, released back in 2015. I remember listening to the record on repeat each day after my pre-calc classes in summer school in grade 13. This album is the harsh salt of reckoning…