Photo Credit: Danny Renshaw

Longtime indie forerunner Sufjan Stevens has announced a deluxe reissue of his fourth album, Seven Swans, to honor the landmark freak folk project’s 20th anniversary. Set to release via his Asthmatic Kitty Records on June 21, the legacy repress comprises three new limited-edition vinyl formats: the AKR Edition, the Indie Record Store Edition and the Dinked Archive Edition, all boasting packaging as bright and distinctive as the project it encloses. Each edition also features a flexi-disc of the record’s original B-sides “I Went Dancing With My Sister” and “Waste of What Your Kids Won’t Have,” available both digitally and physically for the first time.

As the AKR Edition spins on the platter, a zoetrope picture disc adorned with images of swans animates to a flock in flight. Fans can also opt for the glossy gunmetal Indie Record Store Edition or the limited splatter-painted Dinked Archive Edition instead, the latter of which contains seven pieces of origami paper—to make seven swans. Stevens also announced to his social channels that a novelty t-shirt design would accompany the re-release, featuring original art from illustrator Stephen Halker.

Originally released in 2004 via Sounds Familyre and again in 2016 via Asthmatic Kitty Records, Seven Swans continues to be one of Stevens’ most beloved releases, cherished for standout selections like “The Dress Looks Nice on You,” “All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands” and “To Be Alone With You.” Daniel C. Smith, Stevens’ longtime collaborator and the frontman of American folk collective Danielson Famile, produced the record in his home studio in New Jersey, while also making vocal and instrumental cameos on the final recorded project; Smith’s contribution arrives as one of a very few Sufjan projects produced by an outside party. Teeming with layered harmonies, crystalline Americana arrangements and dense intertextuality, Seven Swans preserves a vital pivot point in Stevens’ catalog, exposing the artist embracing spiritual negotiation and unparalleled vulnerability to set the stage for the unforgettable Illinois.

In anticipation of the Seven Swans reissue, fans of the midwestern multi-instrumentalist can find a fix of melodic melancholy on Broadway. Illinoise, the sprawling stage adaptation of Stevens’ vaunted fifth album, is playing now at New York’s St. James Theatre through mid-August, with a cast recording to be issued later this month by Nonesuch Records. Following a run at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, the epic Justin Peck adaptation has received much critical acclaim, accruing Tony-nominations for Best Musical, Best Choreography, Best Orchestrations and Best Lighting Design. 

Fans can pre-order Seven Swans (20th Anniversary Edition) here. See the full tracklist below.

Seven Swans (20th Anniversary Edition) 

1. All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands
2. The Dress Looks Nice on You
3. In the Devil’s Territory
4. To Be Alone with You
5. Abraham
6. Sister
7. Size Too Small
8. We Won’t Need Legs to Stand
9. A Good Man Is Hard to Find
10. He Woke Me Up Again
11. Seven Swans
12. The Transfiguration
13. I Went Dancing With My Sister (Bonus Track)
14. Waste of What Your Kids Won’t Have (Bonus Track)