Sufjan Stevens' Carrie & Lowell

by Joel Mayward

Upon the release of Sufjan Stevens' seventh studio album, Carrie & Lowell, two divergent groups found themselves as strange the LGBTQIA+ community and American evangelical Christians. Both were united in praise for Stevens' beautifully melancholic music.

Critically acclaimed as one of the best albums of 2015, the elegiac and intimate record about the death of Sufjan's estranged mother reflects the musician's own paradoxical posture-Carrie & Lowell is both sacred and profane, Christian and queer, traditional and progressive, despairing and hopeful.

Theologian and cultural critic Joel Mayward considers Carrie & Lowell as a mystical metamodern memento mori, Sufjan's symphonic (as opposed to systematic) approach to the questions of mortality, sexuality, and God. Fusing critical observations with personal narrative, Mayward examines the unique audience reception of Carrie & Lowell and the questions it in a world of division, how might Stevens' affecting music act as a bridge of love between seemingly irreconcilable communities? As Carrie & Lowell reminds us of the painful truth that “we're all gonna die,” perhaps it also offers a glimpse of transcendence and hope on this side of death.

Genres: Music

160 pages, Paperback

Published November 13, 2025

Reviews

[Joel Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably owe this book a longer write up, but it’s been a long day. My love for Carrie and Lowell is so intimate and dear to me, it’s something I don’t really c’discuss with most people. Reading this wonderful and nuanced exploration only increased my love for that album.

[Abraham Teuber]

I think writing about and understanding sufjan is a really difficult task because he so clearly says
exactly what he wants to say in his music. to even discuss sufjan outside the precisely constructed, complex bounds of his work can easily feel superfluous, like a form of engagement his work transcends. he is not a celebrity, artist, or musician so much as a saint. there is something really sacred about him.

this book is a really solid and insightful effort to parse carrie & lowell through queer studies, theology, and personal history. it is very well-researched and worth the read alone for how it elucidates the album’s many references and metaphors drawn from the geography and history of oregon. made me appreciate even more fully what an excellent and rigorous songwriter sufjan is. he allows every element of a song to exist so multidimensionally, serve so many purposes and interpretations, that they really demand biblical comparison.

this clashes, then, with the impulse to interpret carrie & lowell biographically. it’s impossible to avoid when taking on a project like this, but the rawness of the album requires a really delicate and sensitive interpreter. this is handled better in some chapters than others, but this author brings a really deep reverence to writing about sufjan that made it such a beautiful and meditative read.

this was the first 33 1/3 book I have read so I’m not that familiar with this format, but the blend of academic writing, memoir, and cultural criticism didn’t always work for me. there is a clear academic adherence to an overarching argument that can clash with its direct emotional appeals and makes some of the passages sound a bit rote, because they’re trying so clearly to prove rather than just describe. the disparate pieces feel a little slapped together and don’t allow this book to be more than the sum of its parts, but I would absolutely recommend it to any sufjan fan.

I hope this is the first of many books about him! it was also the most thoughtful gift I received for christmas this year and a really great way to spend the weird days between holidays.

[Grant Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read about the queer and Christian themes in Carrie and Lowell. It was held back by two major things:
1.Carrie and Lowell bring a near perfect work of art that speaks for itself
2.Sufjan Stevens being a private person so there's not much to uncover behind the scenes.

[David Hargraves]

Finished this a couple weeks ago but forgot to log it. A really fascinating look at one of the greatest albums ever made. It’s such a shame that this book was finished before Sufjan’s essay was published alongside the 10th anniversary pressings of Carrie and Lowell because not having that perspective makes that book feel a little incomplete. However, this coupled with Sufjan declining to do any interviews for this book lend it an interesting perspective all its own. I love the structure where the author takes each song and describes the literal things Sufjan references with the songs, then interprets the songs, and then applies them to his own life. I honestly found the author’s personal stories just as interesting as his album analysis. This book being very unofficial (Asthmatic Kitty wouldn’t even let the author or Pitchfork use the official album artwork for the cover, making this an outlier in the series) lends it the ability to delve into very personal stories outside of the album, which I think drives home the beauty of Carrie and Lowell: we’re all gonna die. We all have beautiful, horrifying stories completely our own that make us who we are. Also, I really appreciated some of the technical/logistical background at the beginning of the book. I seriously had no idea what a big role Doveman had in turning this into the album we know.

[mochuelo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Realmente 3.5 pero no me deja y me da pena el autor. Pensaba que el libro sería mucho más centrado en el álbum en sí. Esperaba que se analizasen a fondo las letras, ritmos, instrumentos y mientras sí que lo hace. También extrapola muchísimo (incluso demasiado). Habla de cosas demasiado intensas y es como que se saca ensayos y libros de teólogos y místicos para algo que aparentemente no lo necesitaría. Es como que trata el disco como si fuese muchísimo más pensado de lo que yo creo que es.

El autor también combina el análisis con su testimonio, contando un poco su “trágica” vida, lo cual es original y está bien. También es verdad que creo que idolatra al cantante, o sea incluso se refiere a él como “St. Sufjan” lo cual me parece excesivo. Y deja muchos rastros de una idolatría que luego se contradice mucho con el intento de mostrar a Sufjan como una persona más.

Aun así, el hecho de que extrapole tanto, da mucho que pensar y he aprendido mucho, de ahí las estrellas. El autor sabe muchísimo del tema y en general ha sido una lectura muy fresca, nada difícil de leer pero muy enriquecedora y distinta. Un buen acompañante para las horas incansables en el cercanías.

(me da pereza copiar las quotes, pero he subrayado bastante)

[Deki Napolju · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone raised Catholic but who rejected organised religion very early on, I was intrigued by the author's approach to Carrie and Lowell, an album I love and which is inextricable linked with my own process of grieving – the sorting through of my late father's estate (C&L was released less than a year after his death). While Mayward's position makes sense, it's definitely one of the more left-field 33 1/3s. I enjoyed the inclusion of philosophy (Ricœur is one of my favourites, though the promised discussion of personal narrative formation was never quite realised) and theology (I learnt a lot). However, the writing, together with the occasional hagiographic elements (see especially Outro: The Greatest Gift) let this down a bit. The chapter openings (vignettes on Oregonian settings) started to feel a bit formulaic after a while. The weaving of personal narrative created a nice counterpoint to the theoretical sections but the segues between these sections could have been better massaged. The absence of cooperation of the artist in the writing process is neither here nor there, however there are times where Mayward slightly oversteps in terms of putting words in Sufjan's mouth.

[Marcel Uljee · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Within this change of heart lies the eponymous confession of holistic yearning interspersed between each line: all of me wants all of you. Is Sufjan singing about his mother, a lover, or God? To answer this, we have to more directly consider the queer imagery which imbues Carrie & Lowell and, indeed, all of Sufjan Stevens's art.’ (p. 39)

[luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5! Maaayyyybe helpful for my thesis? But ultimately I love love love the repeated point that something (for example a Sufjan Stevens song) can be about (queer) erotic love, and also God, and also family.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joel Mayward's rumination on Sufjan Stevens' album Carrie & Lowell is much like the album in some ways, introspective, plainly spoken, heart breaking in places, but also offering hope while refraining from giving overt answers.

[Conor Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great deep dive in the album and sufjan

[Chlo]

goated album i heart sufjan stevens ok