Convocations, a new instrumental album by Sufjan Stevens, will be released on May 6 digitally, and on August 20th, 2021 via 5xLP colored vinyl boxset .

Convocations is comprised of five volumes—Meditations, Lamentations, Revelations, Celebrations and Incantations—the project is a two-and-a-half-hour, 49-track reflection on a year of anxiety, uncertainty, isolation, and loss. Read more about the project here.

You can hear the first song from the project, “Meditation V,” right now by clicking here. 

The full volume of Meditations will be out this Thursday, April 8. We’ll be releasing the other four volumes each week for the next four weeks. See schedule below for details.

Each of the volumes and tracks of Convocations are accompanied by a generative video art piece created by artist Melissa Fuentes. 

Also: please save the date and join us on Thursday at 12pm ET, when we’ll be premiering Meditations in full, alongside with Fuentes’ visuals, via YouTube livestream here. The livestream will remain active during that week to come, and we encourage you to join in the stream’s chat throughout to reflect, respond, meditate, lament, revel, celebrate, and incant what we’ve gained and what we’ve lost over the last year, and what we see on the horizon.

We are also releasing Convocations on 5xLP on August 20th. You’ll be able to pre-order the boxset on Thursday, April 8th at 1pm ET here or over at Bandcamp here. See photos below.

Schedule

Today
“Meditation V” out now.

Thursday April 8
12PM ET: Livestream of Meditations.
1PM ET: Pre-orders available for 5xLP boxset

Monday April 12
“Lamentation II”

Thursday April 15
12PM ET: Livestream of Lamentations

Monday April 19:
“Revelation II”

Thursday April 22
12PM ET: Livestream of Revelations

Monday April 26
“Celebration VIII”

Thursday April 29
12PM ET: Livestream of Celebrations

Monday May 3:
“Incantation VIII”

Thursday May 6
12PM ET: Livestream of Incantations,
1PM ET: full Convocations project available on digital platforms

August 20th
5xLP boxsets ship (first pressing).

Click here to follow the schedule on our Sufjan calendar.

From 2001 through 2010, Sufjan Stevens recorded an annual Christmas album that he gifted to friends and family. The recording process took place every December for one week, usually at home, provoking collaborations with friends, roommates, and musical peers.

In 2006, Stevens’ label, Asthmatic Kitty Records, released Songs for Christmas, a CD boxset compiling the first five of these albums, Volumes I-V. Later in 2012, the label released Silver & Gold, a CD and vinyl boxset compiling of Volumes VI-X.

But the first five volumes have never been released to vinyl.

This holiday season, Asthmatic Kitty Records is proud to finally release Songs for Christmas: Volumes I-V as a 5-piece vinyl boxset. The boxset arrives November 9th, 2018 with all 42 songs from the original CD boxset, including fan favorites like “Sister Winter,” “That Was The Worst Christmas Ever,” “Only At Christmas Time,” and “Put The Lights on the Tree.”

You can preorder the vinyl boxset at our store, here, or at your favorite local or online record store.

The 5-vinyl boxset includes all original package design with illustrations by Sufjan Stevens, Stephen Halker, and a family portrait painting by Jacques Bredy, as well as lyrics, chord charts, and full recording credits for all the songs. Stickers, essays, and the Sister Winter comic strip from the original CD boxset are not included (but you can still buy CD boxsets with everything in it here.)