Sufjan Stevens has never been afraid of approaching some very difficult topics. He made the most beautiful song ever about serial killer, John Wayne Gacy. His last album, Carrie and Lowell tackled the complex yet uniquely gorgeous relationship he had with his parents.

Sufjan is one of the great beacons of experimentalism and unabashed creativity in indie rock. He has been ever since he popped up on the scene in the early 2000’s.

Now, Stevens returns with a triumphant new album, The Ascension, which sounds to be a glitchy instrumental-packed album, similar to 2010’s Age of Adz, but with modern approaches to modern topics, like American guilt, politics and everyday people, and more.

We’ve already heard the swirling and flowing 12-minute lead single, “America”  now we get it’s B-Side, “My Rajneesh”

The cover art is of Rajneesh or Osho, the leader of the Rajneesh people, a cult that popped up in the upper Northwest in the 90’s. It was later the subject of the Netflix documentary series, Wild Wild Country.