Sufjan Stevens: A Beginner's Mind versie op vinyl LP in standaard editie. Deze specifieke uitgave werd uitgebracht in VS en Canada bij uitgeverij Asthmatic Kitty Records op 22. oktober 2021.

Movies in the evening, music in the morning It used to be said that writing about music was like dancing about architecture (impossible and absurd). But what about singing about movies? That's exactly the idea behind Sufjan Stevens and Angel De Augustin's new collaborative album "A Beginner's Mind". And they implemented it as follows: the American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist and his similarly American musical colleague took time off at a friend's cottage, watched movies at night and wrote songs together in the morning, alternating music and lyrics. In the end, 13 songs were written. They are loosely based on mostly popular movies. The source material is sophisticated, unpretentious and everything in between. From zombie horror movies like "Night of the Living Dead" to psychothrillers like "Silence of the Lambs" and action movies like "The Getaway" to Bette Davis classics like "All About Eve". They have inspired songs that explore the meaning of life, the meaning of death and culminate in existential questions. John Carpenter's "The Thing" inspired a song exploring the disease of social paranoia, while Wim Wenders' "Wings Of Desire" provided the building blocks for a song about human suffering and isolation. Stevens and De Augustine turn old films into vibrant new songs, challenging us to look at ourselves from a previously unfamiliar perspective - a new way of seeing and hearing - which is as necessary and relevant today as ever. Stevens and De Augustine describe the music on A Beginner's Mind as folksy, sweet, honest and harmonically effervescent, like Simon & Garfunkel with a dash of New Age. The album ranges across a wide spectrum and is fun to listen to, though both musicians and writers remain rooted in the melancholy folk idioms for which they are known. They've already revealed what the record will sound like in advance with the singles "Reach Out" and "Olympus". All tracks were arranged, recorded, mixed and produced by Stevens and De Augustine. Casey Foubert plays drums and bass on "Back To Oz", and Melissa Mary Ahern sings backing vocals on "Lacrimae". Daniel Anum Jasper, a pioneer of Ghanaian movie poster painting, has been commissioned to paint a series of new works for the film "A Beginner's Mind". His paintings reflect the same sense of wonder, wordplay and intrigue that characterize "A Beginner's Mind".

Album valt binnen het genre Rock, Pop, Folk, World, & Country, Akoestische muziek, Folk en Indie-Pop.