The Ascension is the eighth solo studio album by Sufjan Stevens - and the long-awaited successor to Carrie & Lowell. Sufjan says the album's fundamentals are "a call for personal transformation and a refusal to play along with the systems around us. The first single America stands as "a protest song against the disease of American culture in particular. "Don't do to me what you did to America" sings Sufjan, and "Don't do to me what you do to yourself". America may feel like an appropriate commentary on the times, but it was written six years ago - the song was originally worked on during the making of Carrie & Lowell. Sufjan re-recorded the song some time ago and then spent two years writing and recording the rest of the material for The Ascension almost entirely on the computer himself - most of it with a drum machine and a handful of synthesizers - using "America" as the thematic template. Sufjan says: "My goal for this album was simple: to question the world around me and to question everything that is not valid. To eradicate any bullshit. Be part of the solution or get out of the way. Be realistic. Stay honest. Keep it simple. Keep moving." The result is a "lush, narrative pop album" - as Sufjan describes it - that finds us all at a "frightening crossroads.Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)