Javelin ASTHMATIC KITTY
8/10
LIKE all Sufjan Stevens albums, opens quietly. There’s a sharp preparatory inhalation, then a few gentle piano chords and Stevens singing as softly as an internal monologue. It suggests an intimate moment, as though he’s unaware that anyone is listening. From there “Goodbye Evergreen” builds patiently, adding new elements until it spills over into a cacophony of voices and beats: the personal erupting into the communal. At times it seems like Stevens can barely control the music as it continually shapeshifts and absorbs new ideas, but that’s an illusion: he’s one