Sufjan Stevens is currently undergoing intensive treatment for Guillain-Barré syndrome—a rare auto-immune disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves. The condition basically leaves someone paralyzed.
From his website posting:
Hi Friends. Quick update on my life. I’m very excited about having new music to share, but I just wanted to let you know that one of the reasons why I haven’t been able to participate in the press and promotion leading up to the release of Javelin is bc I am in the hospital. Last month I woke up one morning and couldn’t walk. My hands, arms and legs were numb and tingling and I had no strength, no feeling, no mobility. My brother drove me to the ER and after a series of tests—MRIs, EMGs, cat scans, X-rays, spinal taps (!), echo-cardiograms, etc.—the neurologists diagnosed me with an auto immune disorder called Guillian-Barre Syndrome. Luckily there’s treatment for this — they administer immuno-hemoglobin infusions for five days and pray that the disease doesn’t spread to the lungs, heart and brain. Very scary, but it worked.
On September 8, I was transferred to acute rehab, where I am now undergoing intensive physical therapy/occupational therapy, strength building etc. to get my body back in shape and to learn to walk again. It’s a slow process, but they say I will “recover,” it just takes a lot of time, patience, and hard work. Most people who have GBS learn to walk again on their own within a year, so I am hopeful. I’m only in my second week of rehab but it is going really well and I am working really hard to get back on my feet. I’m committed to getting better, I’m in good spirits, and I’m surrounded by a really great team. I want to be well!
As for the album, Javelin, it is being considered one of Stevens best. It’s his first solo album of songs since 2020’s The Ascension and his first in full singer-songwriter mode since 2015’s Carrie & Lowell. A 48-page book of art and essays that accompanies the album. With a series of meticulous collages, cut-up catalog fantasies, puff-paint word clouds, and iterative color fields, Stevens builds order from seeming chaos and vice versa. Toward the middle of it all, 10 short essays by Stevens—alternately funny, tragic, poignant, obtuse, and specific—offer little glimpses into loves and losses that have presumably shaped him and, in turn, these songs.
In advance of the album’s October 6th official on sale date, Stevens has released the single “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?”