Tag Archives: A Beginner's Mind

Song of the Week 8/17/2021 – “Back to Oz”

This week we have yet another new track from Sufjan Stevens’s upcoming collaborative record with Angelo De Augustine, A Beginner’s Mind. “Back to Oz” follow’s last month’s spectacular “Reach Out,” and it gives us a bit of a different flavor to enjoy in anticipation of this new record. While “Reach Out” leaned closely to Sufjan’s folk roots, “Back to Oz” is a groovy and sexy indie rock jam session inspired by the 1985 film Return to Oz.

Of course, it still contains all the elements of a fantastic Sufjan Stevens track. The song is filled with waves of elegant palm muted guitar, whispery falsetto and heartbreaking lyrical imagery. The lyrics are more impressionistic than the direct “Reach Out,” using words like brush strokes to create an emotional image (“I’ll be there to play my part, want to keep us safe from harm. But a love was in my heart that I feel now.“)

Like with “Reach Out,” this feels like a return to Sufjan’s work in his Michigan and Illinois albums, and he sounds like he hasn’t lost a beat in the intervening decade. That’s not to minimize De Augustine’s contributions here. While I’m not as familiar with his work, it seems he was central to the songwriting process for these songs, and I’m glad to see that his presence seems to have resulted in a batch of tracks that are matching–if not exceeding–Sufjan’s best work.

To say I’m excited for this record is an understatement. All the tracks that have released so far have been indicating this might be one of the best indie folk records of the year. It’s going to be an excruciating wait for September 24th, that’s for sure.

Song of the Week 7/13/2021 – “Reach Out”

Apologies for skipping the past week! I ended up having a lot of unexpected busyness around the Fourth of July holiday. Now that we’re on the other side of it, I’ll restart things with a great new track from legendary singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens!

Stevens first gained recognition in the 2000s for his work on classic records such as Michigan and Illinois. In the past decade, Sufjan expanded his sound in all directions, stripping things down to the bare minimum in 2015’s Carrie & Lowell, and more recently delving into icy electronica with last year’s The Ascension, as well as the group of ambient pieces that he released earlier this year.

Remaining ever prolific, Stevens has now teamed up with fellow folk songwriter Angelo De Augustine to deliver yet another new record titled A Beginner’s Mind. The lead single, “Reach Out,” feels like a warm hug, a deep revelation presented through curtains of gorgeous fingerpicked guitar and lush instrumentation. Basically, it’s a return to the production and songwriting style of Michigan and Illinois. Despite being separated from those records for over a decade, Stevens is somehow sounding better than ever.

Like Stevens’s best work, the song is nostalgic in nature, recounting memories of youth and naivety with a tenderness and beauty that no other contemporary folk artist can touch. Stevens contrasts himself with another person. Where he is perhaps too cautious and shy, this other person is reckless and lives freely “All my life I tried so hard to separate myself from all that is and was and will be torn apart. You were running unafraid. I know you, but I’ve changed my way.”

It seems there may have been some romantic feeling that died on the vine–“Home is where you have called my name…You said ‘Love may have lost its way’.” Ultimately, the song culminates into one universal message: reach out to the people who have come before you. Learn from their experiences and make their wisdom your own. As someone who has repeatedly sung about historical figures and relatives with an almost mystical admiration, “Reach Out” triumphantly sums up the essence of Sufjan Stevens’s entire career.