A new Sufjan Stevens video for “Life With Dignity” (Helado Negro Remix), taken from Stevens’ The Greatest Gift mixtape, debuts today after an exclusive premiere on Apple Music—watch it here. Directed by Adam Carboni, the video follows three people living with cancer. A portion of proceeds from the release—a collection of outtakes, remixes and demos from Stevens’ lauded 2015 album Carrie & Lowell—benefit the Cancer Support Community.
The Greatest Gift capped off a banner year for Stevens, which saw him contribute two new songs to Luca Guadagnino’s massively acclaimed film Call Me By Your Name, including “Mystery of Love,” which is nominated for the 2018 Critics’ Choice Awards’ Best Song (January 11). While in December, Stevens released “Tonya Harding,” a tribute to the legendary figure skater and American icon. Furthermore, Stevens released a live recording and film, Carrie & Lowell Live, and Planetarium, a collaborative album with Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner and James McAlister imbued with themes of the cosmos.
New York based artist Sufjan Stevens is beloved for his preoccupation with epic concepts, which has motivated two state records (Michigan and Illinois), a collection of sacred and biblical songs (Seven Swans), an electronic album for the animals of the Chinese zodiac (Enjoy Your Rabbit), an expansive EP in homage to the Apocalypse (All Delighted People), a LP partly inspired by the outsider artist Royal Robertson (The Age of Adz) and two Christmas box sets (Songs for Christmas, vol. 1-5 and Silver & Gold, vol. 6-10). Additionally Brooklyn Academy of Music has commissioned two works from Stevens, a programmatic tone poem for the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (The BQE) and an instrumental accompaniment to slow-motion rodeo footage (Round Up). Stevens has also collaborated extensively with the New York City Ballet choreographer Justin Peck.
Photo credit: Andrea Morrison
