Album · Sufjan Stevens
Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens
Carrie & Lowell is an album by Sufjan Stevens, released in 2015. 3 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 10 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Should Have Known Better”, on 8 lists with a best position of #16.
Carrie & Lowell, Sufjan Stevens' seventh album, arrived on Asthmatic Kitty on March 31, 2015, and after the electronic sprawl of The Age of Adz it strips everything back to bare bones and a voice pitched barely above a whisper. Stevens produced it himself, with Thomas Bartlett, Laura Veirs and Sean Carey among a small circle of helpers, and critics heard a homecoming to the indie folk of his early records.
The subject is grief. His mother Carrie died in 2012, and the songs pick through that loss alongside his bond with her second husband, Lowell Brams, the stepfather who helped him get the very label it came out on off the ground. "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross" and "Should Have Known Better" led the way, a week-long NPR preview spread the word, and the reviews were rapturous, with plenty calling it his best and year-end lists falling in line.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Carrie & Lowell on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Should Have Known Better | 8 | #16 | – | 2015–2026 | |
| 2 | Death with Dignity | 1 | #518 | – | 2024 | |
| 3 | No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross | 1 | #80 | – | 2015 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.