Photo by Sufjan Stevens

Though decades apart, Saint Sufjan of the Eternal Flame of Sorrow would likely relate to the Gen-Z notion that it is indeed brutal out there in all things love. That ache doesn’t soften evidently no matter how much wisdom one acquires over age, and on “Will Anybody Ever Love?”, the second single from the Stevens’ upcoming album, Javelin, the heart is a burning pyre the songwriter continues searching an extinguish from. “Tie me to a tiny wooden raft / Burn my body, point me to the undertow / Push me off into the void at last,” he sings, near-defeated and desperate for an answer. Finger-plucked acoustic mind-spindling is a thing of muscle memory weaving familiar introspections of youthful desires, and the grandeur of synthetic orchestration with vocalists adrienne maree brown, Hannah Cohen, and Megan Lu entering its view is that imagined moment of his fire meeting the cool of water’s embrace. “Will anybody ever love me? / In every season / Pledge allegiance to my heart.” Alas, the dream is not reality, but Stevens burns brightly as a single flame in the dark.

Directed by: Stephen Halker

Sufjan Stevens’ Javelin will be released October 6th on Asthmatic Kitty.