Last month, Sufjan Stevens and his label, Asthmatic Kitty, put out a trailer for Carrie & Lowell, the gentle-voiced folk rocker’s first solo album in five years. Now, they’ve released a single, “No Shade In The Shadow Of The Cross” to stoke interest in the album’s March 31 release. As with the album’s title track, heard in the trailer, the song seems to be a step back from the harsher sounds of Stevens’ last major release, 2010’s The Age Of Adz. A breathy, Christianity-tinged acoustic meditation on love and loss—or, in technical terms, “a Sufjan Stevens song”—“Cross” is only a few Abraham Lincoln references shy of fitting in on Stevens’ breakout 2005 album Illinois. The only nod to the darker turn Adz seemed to signal is the song’s solitary use of the word “fuck,”a momentary sharp moment in the song’s sad, meandering daydream of sound.
Asthmatic Kitty also announced the addition of second shows for some of the stops in Stevens’ 2015 tour, with dates added for Chicago, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles.
04/09 – Philadelphia, PA @ Academy of Music
04/10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Academy of Music
04/11 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theater
04/12 – Hartford, CT @ The Bushnell Center for Performing Arts
04/14 – Portland, ME @ Merrill Auditorium
04/15 – Albany, NY @ The Palace Theater
04/16 – Cleveland, OH @ Cleveland Masonic Auditorium
04/17 – Columbus, OH @ Palace Theater
04/18 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Murat Theatre
04/20 – St. Louis, MO @ Peabody Opera House
04/21 – Kansas City, MO @ Midland Theater
04/22 – Minneapolis, MN @ Northrop Auditorium
04/23 – Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater
04/24 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
04/25 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
04/27 – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Temple
04/28 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Convenant Fine Arts Center
04/29 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
04/30 – Montreal, QC @ Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier
05/01 – Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
05/02 – Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
05/04 – Boston, MA @ Wang Theatre
05/05 – Washington, DC @ DAR Constitution Hall
05/06 – Richmond, VA @ Altria Theater
05/07 – Durham, NC @ Durham Performing Arts Center
05/09 – New Orleans, LA @ Saenger Theatre
05/10 – Dallas, TX @ Majestic Theatre
05/11 – Houston, TX @ Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
05/12 – Austin, TX @ Bass Concert Hall
06/02 – San Diego, CA @ Copley Symphony Hall
06/03 – Los Angeles, CA @ Dorthy Chandler Pavilion
06/04 – Los Angeles, CA @ Dorthy Chandler Pavilion
06/05 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
06/06 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
06/08 – Portland, OR @ Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
06/09 – Vancouver, BC @ Orpheum Theatre
06/10 – Seattle, WA @ The Paramount Theatre
06/11 – Seattle, WA @ The Paramount Theatre
07/17-18 – Eau Claire, WI @ Eaux Claires Festival
09/04-06 – Wiltshire, UK @ End of the Road Festival