Sufjan Stevens topped many end-of-year lists with last year’s Carrie & Lowell, which numerous critics hailed as the ambitious and endlessly inventive singer-songwriter’s magnum opus or at the very least, his best album since Illinois.
However, critics and fans alike may soon have to reconsider Stevens’s entire discography. According to one anonymous Redditor, Stevens’s scrapped and unreleased debut album has apparently been found inside of a dumpster in Brooklyn, New York.
“I used to work next door to Sufjan’s studio in Brooklyn,” the Redditor explained, via CoS. “One day, while he was renovating the place, he threw a bunch of stuff into the building’s dumpster. I salvaged this… as far as I know, I don’t think it’s ever been released.”
The album is entitled Stalker: The Definitive Album by Sufjan Stevens and it’s, well, kind of creepy. In addition to that title, it features song titles like ‘I Know Where Your Kids Go To School’ and ‘Kommin’ Ta Getcha’.
The CD inside the jewel case features the words ‘Stalk Her’ sloppily scrawled alongside a pair of lifeless eyes and a set of teeth. The album was apparently meant to be released back in 1998 via Asthmatic Kitty, the label Stevens co-found with his stepfather.
As Consequence of Sound notes, a staffer at Asthmatic Kitty wasn’t able to confirm whether the 14-track album, which originated two years before Stevens’s eventual debut, A Sun Came, was legit, but suggested whoever found it keep it to themselves.
“You have received a special gift. You’re hearing something only a few have ever heard,” they said. “Like any great musician Sufjan writes a ton of music. 99% of it is unreleased for whatever reason. Sometimes you just have to trust the smurfjam.”
Whilst no one, including Stevens, has confirmed the authenticity of the album, CoS notes that Stevens did claim to have written “songs about stalkers” during a 2006 interview with Adequacy of Delusions.
