Music

Unreleased Sufjan Stevens album found in Brooklyn dumpster

by Jeremy Mersereau

Yep, you read that headline correctly, and you’re not on The Onion or The Hard Times.

Yesterday, an anonymous Redditor related unearthing an apparently unreleased Sufjan Stevens album called Stalker from a New York dumpster, and he’s got pictures of his trophy to prove it.

“I used to work next door to Sufjan’s studio in Brooklyn,” the anonymous poster recounted. “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”.

Stalker’s liner notes indicate the album was to be released on Sufjan’s own Asthmatic Kitty label in 1998, which would have made it Sufjan’s first album, as his legitimate debut A Sun Came wasn’t released until 2000. Going by the tracklist, the songs on Stalker were all going to revolve around the thought of a major creep, with song titles including “I Know Where Your Kids Go To School” and “U Kan Wrun But U Kan’t Hyde”.

The validity of the dumpster debut hasn’t been officially verified, but a representative from Asthmatic Kitty popped into the Reddit thread to add his two cents. “As someone who’s been privy over the years to unreleased music from several artists, I’d say you have received a special gift. You’re hearing something only a few have ever heard. It’s a rare honor.” The spokeperson added that the label wouldn’t be sending “any severe takedowns or legal notices” to stop the dumpster diver from uploading or otherwise sharing the unreleased music, but “as someone who’s also had the special privilege of hearing unreleased music, [I] politely ask that you keep it to yourself.”

Intrepid fellow Redditor Galex11 unearthed a past Sufjan interview where he did mention that he had written songs about stalkers in the past:

Given a tolerance for quinoa and an underdeveloped sense of smell, we can only imagine what other unreleased music could be discovered in the dumpsters of Brooklyn. Get cracking, NYC freegans, I bet you could find at least a Grizzly Bear EP or two within the first half hour.