{"id":1278,"date":"2020-09-30T12:10:19","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T16:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hannahandmattonmedia.com\/?p=1278"},"modified":"2020-09-30T12:22:50","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T16:22:50","slug":"the-ascension-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hannahandmattonmedia.com\/?p=1278","title":{"rendered":"“The Ascension” Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hannah and Matt on Music: \u201cThe Ascension\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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Matt\u2019s Take<\/b>: Oh boy. Let me just say, I was very excited for this album. I genuinely believe that Sufjan Stevens is one of the best songwriters of our time. The beauty he finds in the English language, the emotions that he can tap relentlessly, and the unfiltered weight of melancholy that he can put on the listener is genuinely impressive. That is why it pains me to say, I really did not feel any of that with \u201cThe Ascension.\u201d Sure, the album has interesting beats, but that doesn\u2019t leave me with much else. I understand that this take is INCREDIBLY hot, but I didn\u2019t get what I listen to Sufjan Stevens for. Artists have the right to change their style all they want and it typically receives terrible reception from fans. Albums like \u201cThe Life of Chris Gaines\u201d by Garth Brooks, \u201cLulu\u201d by Metallica and Lou Reed, and even \u201cGreen Album\u201d by Weezer all show a shift into a new type of music and were all lambasted by fans. Personally, I can appreciate the confidence of trying out a new genre of music, especially when you\u2019re already an established musician. I feel this way with \u201cThe Ascension.\u201d It is not what I wanted, but I have to commend it on a certain level for going more electronic than what I\u2019m used to. \u201cCarrie & Lowell\u201d this is not, and you know what? That\u2019s fine for Sufjan, and I hope other fans get more out of this album than I did.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Three Standout Tracks<\/b>: \u201cMake Me An Offer I Cannot Refuse,\u201d \u201cLamentations\u201d and \u201cAmerica.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Overall Score: 6.4\/10<\/b><\/p>\n

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Hannah\u2019s Take<\/b>: \u201cThe Ascension\u201d marks Sufjan Stevens\u2019s first album release in five years, an album I was extremely excited to listen to. Now, I definitely agree with Matt when he sees this album is not like the Sufjan we all know and love. However, I really didn\u2019t mind the genre switch-up. Of course, I was looking forward to an album I could sit and cry to, like \u201cCarrie and Lowell,\u201d so I was a bit disappointed with the electronic frenzy hosted on \u201cThe Ascension.\u201d Upon listening a bit more deeply, I interpreted the emotion of the album differently than listeners who wrote it off as being cold and aloof. I believe \u201cThe Ascension\u201d offers the perspective of someone almost alien, attempting to share their emotions with listeners. One of my personal favorites from the record, \u201cDie Happy,\u201d drives home this struggle between feeling and connecting. The electronic nature of the record is new and unusual for seasoned Sufjan fans, but I\u2019m not writing the album off as bad. Though a bit dull and predictable as a whole, I like the experimentation and admire Sufjan for going out of his sweet little box.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Three Standout Tracks<\/b>: \u201cLamentations,\u201d \u201cDie Happy,\u201d and \u201cSugar\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Overall Score: 7\/10<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hannah and Matt on Music: \u201cThe Ascension\u201d Matt\u2019s Take: Oh boy. Let me just say, I was very excited for this album. I genuinely believe that Sufjan Stevens is one of the best songwriters of our time. The beauty he finds in the English language, the emotions that he can tap relentlessly, and the unfiltered … Continue reading »“The Ascension” Review<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hannahandmattonmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ascension.jpg?fit=807%2C807&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hannahandmattonmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hannahandmattonmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hannahandmattonmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hannahandmattonmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hannahandmattonmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hannahandmattonmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1280,"href":"https:\/\/hannahandmattonmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions\/1280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hannahandmattonmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hannahandmattonmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hannahandmattonmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hannahandmattonmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}