Sufjan Stevens is no stranger to concept albums and multi-volume projects, and has returned with the announcement of his most recent undertaking, a five-volume album titled Convocations. The volumes are organized as Meditations, Lamentations, Revelations, Celebrations, and Incantations; Stevens shared the track "Meditation V" ahead of the release.
The entire collection is composed of 49 tracks, with a runtime of two and a half hours. It was written as a tribute to the "Chicago" singer's biological father, who passed just two days after Stevens' most recent album The Ascension. As an examination of his own mourning, the album expresses “the stages of grief and gladness with emotional mood music that is dreamy, dissonant, vertiginous, rhythmic, repetitive, urgent, and calm.”
Each volume of Convocation will be released weekly, beginning with Meditations on Thursday, April 8th. The album will be available in full on May 6th. Listen to "Meditation V" below.
