Meditations

Exclaim!10/ 10

“It’s not an album we could have ever expected in 2020, but it is the one we deserve. It may very well be his most challenging and ambitious undertaking to date as well as a sign of the new era of Stevens to come”

Slant Magazine3/ 5 stars

“The album is only partially successful at maintaining the singer’s impeccable songwriting”

The Line of Best Fit

“The listener is left with the underlying feeling that with or without faith in a higher power – God, or a lover, or the abstract idea of love itself – we must, like Stevens, face our personal and universal demons alone”

The Guardian

“Outward-focused but always addressed as though to a lover (or a listener, or God), The Ascension’s maximalist reckoning finds his horror at national affairs mirroring his own inner turbulence”

NME4/ 5 stars

“Stevens’ first solo album since his deeply personal 2015 LP ’Carrie & Lowell’ may be uneasy in its outlook, but its pop-leaning soundscape will draw in even the most uncomfortable of listeners”

Paste8.0/ 10

“Globally anxious, Stevens goes wide but overextends on 8th studio album”

Under the Radar

“The Ascension harks back to the heavy electronics of 2010’s Age of Adz but with adroit focus on the themes of existential dread and the quest for meaning with a bounty of angry yet hopeful songs that satisfy melodically and metaphysically”

The Quietus

“For all the synthetic otherworldliness, this record is unflinchingly honest in its assessment of the United States as well as a very personal and raw portrait of Steven’s own humanity and fallibility”

Pitchfork7.0/ 10

“Exhaustive, dense, and detailed, Sufjan Stevens’ electro-opus is another huge artistic leap that speaks plainly to complicated emotions and attempts to rebuild his sound from the ground up”

The Independent5/ 5 stars

“A loveably retro fleet of bulky analogue synths course through this record”

Clash

“There’s a stunning candour to the lyrics, though it gets a little stodgy in the mid-section and, at 80+ minutes, is a little more verbiage than the typical album. Yet we’re dealing with an untypical songwriter, and the last two tracks are among the best he’s ever written”

Sputnik Music

“With few exceptions, Ascension is channeled into one energy level, despite the variety of sounds. It’s busy lethargy: too hive-like to be soothing, too sedated to be invigorating”