In 2013, Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner of The National, Nico Muhly and drummer James McAlister took to the stage with a string quartet to perform a project inspired by the solar system. A pretext as good as any other for discovering, once again, the gifts of the talented melodist Sufjan Stevens. Four years later, this adventure, entitled Planetarium has been committed to vinyl. The good news is that the cosmos conjured up by the indy supergroup never falls into the trap of sounding like a chin-stroking new age soundtrack. No, each composition can be enjoyed independently, like a little planet unto itself. And indeed the tracks on the album take their names from the planets of the solar system (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto…) moving from pop to prog rock, from electro to neo-classical, with true grace. An original and inspiring record. © CM/Qobuz