A Beginner's Mind' began when the two musicians and Asthmatic Kitty labelmates decamped to a friend's cabin in upstate New York for a monthlong songwriting sabbatical. Watching a movie to unwind after each day's work, they soon found their songs reflecting the films and began investigating this connection in earnest. The resulting album is 14 songs (loosely) based on (mostly) popular films - highbrow, lowbrow and everything in between. They wrote in tandem - one person writing a verse, the other a chorus, churning out chord progressions and lyrics willy-nilly, often finishing each other's sentences in the process. Rigorous editing and rewriting ensued. The results are less a 'cinematic exegesis' and more a 'rambling philosophical inquiry' that allows the songs to free-associate at will.
Track Listing:
1. Reach Out - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
2. Lady Macbeth in Chains - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
3. Back to Oz - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
4. The Pillar of Souls - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
5. You Give Death a Bad Name - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
6. A Beginner's Mind - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
7. Olympus - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
8. Murder and Crime - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
9. (This Is) the Thing - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
10. It's Your Own Body and Mind - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
11. Lost in the World - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
12. Fictional California - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
13. Cimmerian Shade - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
14. Lacrimae - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
Year of Production: 2021
