Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	90/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	A
The Daily Telegraph
Entertainment Weekly	A−
The Guardian
The Independent
NME	9/10
Pitchfork Media	9.3/10
Rolling Stone
Spin	8/10

Carrie & Lowell is the seventh studio album by American musician Sufjan Stevens, released through Asthmatic Kitty on March 31, 2015. Unlike Stevens's previous studio album, the electronic The Age of Adz, Carrie & Lowell is sparsely instrumental and marks a return to the performer's indie folk roots. The album was given a one-week preview on NPR.

The album was released to high critical acclaim, with many critics calling it Stevens' best.Carrie & Lowell was widely deemed one of the best albums of 2015.

The songs on the album were recorded in 2014 at Stevens' office in Dumbo, Brooklyn and Pat Dillett's studio in Midtown Manhattan. Some of the songs were also recorded in Oregon, at Portland's Flora Recording & Playback and on an iPhone in a Klamath Falls hotel room. A few songs were also tracked in Oklahoma, at Norman's Blackwatch Studios, and in Wisconsin, at Eau Claire's April Base Studios. The songs were inspired by the 2012 death of his mother, Carrie, and the family trips they took to Oregon in Stevens' childhood. Stevens' mother, who suffered from depression, schizophrenia, and substance abuse, abandoned him when he was a year old. According to Stevens, recording the album helped him come to terms with her death and provide closure. The album title also references his stepfather, Lowell, who helped co-found Stevens' record company Asthmatic Kitty.

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Wikipedia