Sufjan Stevens Announces 5-Volume Album in Tribute to His Late Father

Sufjan Stevens has announced Convocations, a five-volume album that follows on the heels of last year’s The Ascension.

The instrumental LP will be in tribute to his biological father, who died in September 2020, two days after the release of The Ascension. Each volume from Convocations is meant to reflect a different stage of the mourning process; a tweet from Stevens’ label, Asthmatic Kitty, described it as “a 49-track reflection on a year of anxiety, uncertainty, isolation, and loss.”

On Tuesday, Stevens released the first single from the collection, “Meditation V.” Stevens will be releasing Convocations‘ first volume, Meditations, on Thursday, April 8th via Asthmatic Kitty, while the rest of the volumes — Lamentations, Revelations, Celebrations, and Incantations — will be released on May 6th. A livestream of Meditations will air April 8th at 12:00 p.m. ET on YouTube, featuring visuals by artist Melissa Fuentes. A five-LP vinyl boxset is due out on August 20th.

Announcing “Convocations,” an instrumental album by Sufjan Stevens, out 5/6 digitally, and 8/20 on 5xLP colored vinyl boxset. It comprises five volumes— a 49-track reflection on a year of anxiety, uncertainty, isolation, and loss: https://t.co/ZCDznPzRdu

— Asthmatic Kitty (@asthmatickitty) April 6, 2021

In February, Stevens released a music video for The Ascension track “Tell Me You Love Me,” directed by his Call Me By Your Name collaborator Luca Guadagnino. Stevens previously shared videos for the singles “Video Game” and “Sugar.” He also recently guested on “Song of Trouble” by yMusic’s CJ Camerieri.