Sufjan Stevens and Angelo de Augustine, ‘A Beginner’s Mind’ Review
Sufjan Stevens and Angelo de Augustine, ‘A Beginner’s Mind’
Asthmatic Kitty, 2021
Sufjan Stevens is so well-established at this point in indie-folk canon that it seems perhaps redundant to give him an introduction - trying his hand at everything from songwriting to production to heading up his own label, Stevens is a solo tour-de-force in his own right. His latest project, A Beginner’s Mind, is the third in a trilogy of collaborations that he has made alongside his solo work over the past five years, this one being with fellow US indie-folk singer-songwriter Angelo de Augustine. De Augustine’s catalogue, released since 2017 on Stevens’ own label Asthmatic Kitty, is slightly less high-profile than his co-creator’s, so one might be tempted to expect an imbalance of creative contribution on this collaboration, favouring the indie-folk stalwart Stevens. Certainly, those who are familiar with Stevens’ previous work will recognise the overwhelming imprint of the man’s musical genius on this project, but it is also impossible to ignore just how well the two artists’ performances mesh together throughout this satisfying and engaging album.
Written during a retreat to a cabin in upstate New York, A Beginner’s Mind takes cinema as its inspiration, with each of the tracks being thematically or narratively inspired by a different film that the two musicians watched on each day of their stay. To me, this connection feels superficial at best; while some of the tracks touch lightly on themes from these movies, whether lyrically or musically, it would be more than easy, and perhaps more gratifying, to disassociate the music on this record completely from its influences and experience it at face value. Certainly, the inspiration does not impede upon its product - in other words, you don’t have to have seen the films in order to feel the full effect of the music.
From the first track, the extremely catchy single Reach Out, we see how well Stevens’ and de Augustine’s voices complement each other, not really in harmony but instead in a sort of duel melody, the two voices almost competing to rise above the other, both in pitch and in presence. The song bears all the hallmarks of a classic Sufjan track - it is polyrhythmic and sonically dense, and immediately and inexorably powerful - but de Augustine’s vocals and guitar-playing add a colour to the track too. If Reach Out, in the form of a classic Sufjan Stevens finger-picked acoustic guitar ballad, gives the impression that the two are playing it safe, that conception is blown apart by the music that follows. Lady Macbeth in Chains is immediately much more complex instrumentally, with its use of various synthesisers. It is also more complex in its vocal harmonies, which for me are reminiscent of classic 1960s popular folk, from the likes of the Byrds or even the Hollies. The record then takes another turn with the heavily funk-inspired groove on Back to Oz, probably one of the biggest bangers on the tracklist. The Pillar of Souls slows the album down with lingering chords and a lethargic harmonic rhythm, before the piano takes centre stage on You Give Death a Bad Name, its dynamic arpeggios evoking the Night of the Living Dead.
The sixth and title track, Beginner’s Mind, is the first time we see de Augustine take creative control on the record. He does so with aplomb, stamping his authority on the track with breathy, high-register vocals over heavy strides of chordal piano. Olympus is the prettiest track on the record and brings us back Sufjanward, sounding much like a track from my personal favourite of his solo albums, Carrie and Lowell. After this, I have to say the album seems to lull on the following two tracks in spite of confident songwriting from Stevens. Murder and Crime is another piano ballad, this time a bit forgettable, while (This is) The Thing seems to me an attempt to create impressions of Carrie and Lowell that doesn’t successfully capture its beauty.
The lull is deftly overturned, however, on the upbeat and positive It’s Your Own Body and Mind, which takes themes from the brilliant Spike Lee film She’s Gotta Have It and turns them into a catchy indie rock offering. Lost in The World broadens the record’s musical vocabulary with its mysterious, fantastical style and unsettling underlying riff. Fictional California is more playful and decadent, featuring a typical Sufjan jangly banjo backing and falsetto vocal line. Then comes the poppiest song on the album, Cimmerian Shade, which is told from the perspective of Buffalo Bill from the cultural obelisk The Silence of the Lambs. The song, perhaps despite its creepy inspiration, is inherently beautiful. It is about living in perpetual darkness, but being able to derive light from the dark, and its mantra of “beauty resides where your spirit dwells” is maybe the most poignant of the whole record. Lacrimae, then, is a fitting closing track for a strong second half to the album, an atmospheric dénouement to complement a stormy, complex and compelling work of art.
Overall, A Beginner’s Mind is a strong series of tracks with a cohesion that is typical of both Sufjan Stevens’ solo works and collaborations. De Augustine certainly adds to the overall effect of the album, even if it does feel at times like a natural sequel to Stevens’ 2016 work Carrie and Lowell. The pair, being both very accomplished and creative musicians in their own right, and working within a very similar space of the indie folk movement, complement each other’s styles well. Sometimes it feels like the two are too well-matched; indeed, the vocal textures of the two singers are so similar as to be almost indistinguishable at times, creating a sort of uncanny valley whenever the two are singing simultaneously. In the same vein, the predominance of finger-picked acoustic guitars, strummed banjos and arpeggiated pianos means that the collaboration is weaved very tightly - I would challenge anyone at first listen to determine which tracks are written predominantly by each artist and which ones they share credit for. Oddly, it is often the strangest and most diverse collaborations in music that produce the most satisfying results, rather than the ones between contemporaries within the same oeuvre. Lastly, as hinted at earlier, I don’t feel a great presence from the album’s supposed influences on its music as a whole. This applies not just to the films that are evoked, but to the Buddhist concept of the ‘Beginner’s Mind’ which ostensibly provides the overarching framework for the project. While the album certainly has a spiritual feel to it, I remain as unconvinced about the specific Buddhist influence here as I do about the cinematic one. These minor quibbles aside, I do feel a genuine affinity for this collaborative project and I feel the songwriting, buoyed by the influence of his protégé Angelo de Augustine, is right up there with some of Sufjan Stevens’ best albums. Best enjoyed at face value, but nonetheless profound at times, A Beginner’s Mind is the zenith of Stevens’ creative collaborations and a work of great character and emotion.
Reach Out
Lady Macbeth in Chains
Back to Oz
The Pillar of Souls
You Give Death a Bad Name
Beginner’s Mind
Olympus
Murder and Crime
(This is) The Thing
It’s Your Own Body and Mind
Lost in the World
Fictional California
Cimmerian Shade
Lacrimae