Michelle Shiers on February 18th, 2015

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Detroit’s Sufjan Stevens has unveiled the first track from his forthcoming seventh studio album “Carrie & Lowell,” out March 31 on Asthmatic Kitty Records. The track entitled “No Shade In The Shadow Of The Cross” is delicate and reflective, with an anti-climactic close. Stevens’ music has spanned everything from lo-fi folk to noisy indie-racket to electronica and many other places in between as he experiments with his role as a story-telling balladeer. “No Shade In The Shadow Of The Cross” hangs like a whisper as Stevens’ vocals sound more somber than usual. While he occasionally incorporates spirituality into his music, “No Shade In The Shadow Of The Cross” feels more rooted in themes of substance abuse, familial unrest and loss. In this track, he is just as peculiar and open as usual with his lyrics, “Like a champion, get drunk to get laid, I take one more hit when you depart,” and just as calming with his reverent finger-picking. Whether or not this is the new tone for Stevens’ highly anticipated return to solo-folk, it is as intimate as he could get. “Carrie & Lowell” is named after his mother and stepfather.

||| Stream: “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross”

||| Live: Sufjan Steven plays June 3 and 4 at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion