Convocations (album)

Convocations, as described by Stevens' label, Asthmatic Kitty, is "a 49-track reflection on a year of anxiety, uncertainty, isolation, and loss."{{cite magazine |last1=Shaffer |first1=Claire |title=Sufjan Stevens Announces 5-Volume Album in Tribute to His Late Father |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/sufjan-stevens-convocations-meditation-v-1151596/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=April 6, 2021 |date=April 6, 2021}} The album's five volumes each represent one of the five stages of grief, motivated by the death of Stevens' biological father on September 27, 2020, just two days after the release of his previous studio album, The Ascension.

Regarding his decision to record a purely instrumental album, Stevens noted: "I think this past year I've just felt so overwhelmed with the content of the world, the pandemic and all the extreme sort of political movements and racial inequity. And then the terror of this invisible plague. All of that is just like weighing bearing down on all of us every day. I felt like I had almost been rendered speechless, in a way. [...] I wanted to create music that didn't have a narrative and didn't have verbal content."{{cite web |last1=Tuerk |first1=Alexander |title=Sufjan Stevens Releases 'Convocations,' A New-Age Journey Through Loss And Joy |url=https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/05/06/sufjan-stevens-convocations-album |website=WBUR |access-date=May 13, 2021 |date=May 6, 2021}}

The album's first single, "Meditation V", was released on April 6, and the first of five volumes, Meditations, was released on April 8, 2021.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stereogum.com/2143437/sufjan-stevens-convocations-meditations-volume-one-album-stream/music/|title=Stream The First Volume Of Sufjan Stevens' New Album Convocations|date=April 8, 2021}} Lamentations was released on April 15.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stereogum.com/2144203/sufjan-stevens-new-album-lamentations-convocations/music/|title=Stream 'Lamentations,' The Second Volume Of Sufjan Stevens' New Album 'Convocations'|date=April 15, 2021}} Revelations was released on April 22.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stereogum.com/2145114/stream-the-third-volume-of-sufjan-stevens-new-album-convocations/music/|title=Sufjan Stevens Shares Third Volume Of His New Album 'Convocations': Stream|date=April 22, 2021}} Celebrations was released on April 29, and Incantations was released on May 6, 2021.

Regarding the album's springtime release, Stevens noted: "I recorded most of this in the dead of winter and now it's coming out in the spring. And I think that really, it's a serendipity in a way, that it allows for us to receive this music with hope, you know, for the future. And that's I think that's something that we all deserve and need more than ever right now."

Each of the volumes and tracks of Convocations are accompanied by a generative video art piece created by Mexican artist "[https://www.instagram.com/melissazrttt/ Melissa Santamaría]".

Convocations is an ambient,{{cite web|url=https://www.loudandquiet.com/reviews/sufjan-stevens-convocations/|title=Sufjan Stevens - Convocations - Album review|last=Gatward|first=Tristan|work=Loud and Quiet|access-date=May 30, 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/sufjan-stevens-convocations-review-2935041|title=Sufjan Stevens – 'Convocations' review: 49-song ambient opus is moving, but hard work|last=Mylrea|first=Hannah|work=NME|date=May 11, 2021|access-date=May 30, 2021}} electronic, and space music{{cite web|url=https://floodmagazine.com/87914/sufjan-stevens-convocations/|title=Sufjan Stevens, "Convocations"|last=Lemmon|first=Kyle|work=Flood|date=May 6, 2021|access-date=May 30, 2021}} album that contains elements of progressive electronic, shoegaze, drone, and space jazz.

{{Track listing

| headline =Meditations

| all_writing = Sufjan Stevens

| title1 = Meditation I

| length1 = 3:40

| title2 = Meditation II

| length2 = 2:27

| title3 = Meditation III

| length3 = 4:04

| title4 = Meditation IV

| length4 = 2:10

| title5 = Meditation V

| length5 = 2:11

| title6 = Meditation VI

| length6 = 2:16

| title7 = Meditation VII

| length7 = 2:34

| title8 = Meditation VIII

| length8 = 1:48

| title9 = Meditation IX

| length9 = 2:12

| title10 = Meditation X

| length10 = 3:40

| total_length = 27:02

}}

{{Track listing

| headline =Lamentations

| title1 = Lamentation I

| length1 = 3:49

| title2 = Lamentation II

| length2 = 2:25

| title3 = Lamentation III

| length3 = 3:18

| title4 = Lamentation IV

| length4 = 1:59

| title5 = Lamentation V

| length5 = 4:11

| title6 = Lamentation VI

| length6 = 4:43

| title7 = Lamentation VII

| length7 = 1:52

| title8 = Lamentation VIII

| length8 = 3:35

| title9 = Lamentation IX

| length9 = 3:29

| title10 = Lamentation X

| length10 = 1:57

| total_length = 31:18

}}

{{Track listing

| headline =Revelations

| title1 = Revelation I

| length1 = 3:21

| title2 = Revelation II

| length2 = 2:54

| title3 = Revelation III

| length3 = 2:01

| title4 = Revelation IV

| length4 = 4:10

| title5 = Revelation V

| length5 = 2:52

| title6 = Revelation VI

| length6 = 3:34

| title7 = Revelation VII

| length7 = 4:04

| title8 = Revelation VIII

| length8 = 2:52

| title9 = Revelation IX

| length9 = 4:39

| title10 = Revelation X

| length10 = 4:18

| total_length = 34:45

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Celebrations

| title1 = Celebration I

| length1 = 2:20

| title2 = Celebration II

| length2 = 5:56

| title3 = Celebration III

| length3 = 3:10

| title4 = Celebration IV

| length4 = 3:23

| title5 = Celebration V

| length5 = 2:59

| title6 = Celebration VI

| length6 = 4:02

| title7 = Celebration VII

| length7 = 3:41

| title8 = Celebration VIII

| length8 = 3:26

| title9 = Celebration IX

| length9 = 1:36

| title10 = Celebration X

| length10 = 4:10

| total_length = 34:43

}}

{{Track listing

| headline =Incantations

| title1 = Incantation I

| length1 = 2:17

| title2 = Incantation II

| length2 = 1:59

| title3 = Incantation III

| length3 = 1:37

| title4 = Incantation IV

| length4 = 2:00

| title5 = Incantation V

| length5 = 3:15

| title6 = Incantation VI

| length6 = 1:50

| title7 = Incantation VII

| length7 = 1:54

| title8 = Incantation VIII

| length8 = 2:56

| title9 = Incantation IX

| length9 = 4:29

| total_length = 22:17

}}

{{Reflist}}

{{sufjan Stevens}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Convocations}}

Category:2021 albums

Category:Albums impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic

Category:Asthmatic Kitty albums

Category:Sufjan Stevens albums

Category:2020s instrumental albums

Category:Ambient albums by American artists

Category:Space music albums by American artists