Shannon Stephens Readies First Album in Nine Years, Offers Free Track

Photo by La Luz Photography

Shannon Stephens, lead singer of Sufjan Stevens' old band Marzuki, is set to release the first solo album since her 2000 self-titled debut. That new album, The Breadwinner, will be released on the label Stevens co-founded, Asthmatic Kitty Records.

After recording that first solo album, she moved from Holland, Mich., to Seattle, and started a family. Aside from playing occasionally with folks like Denison Witmer and Damien Jurado and recording an unreleased EP of old hymns with Rosie Thomas, Stephens took a break from music, going seven years without playing her songs in front of an audience. Then, last year, right as Bonnie "Prince" Billy's latest album featured a cover of Stephens' "I'll Be Glad," she began working on The Breadwinner in her living room.

“This second album was a real effort," she says in a recent statement. "We have a child now and bills to pay—but I think those pressures may have actually made it better.”

Stephens wrote all the songs except for closer "Seems I'm Never Tired Lovin' You" by Aretha's sister Carolyn Franklin. Her vocals and guitar are at the center of each song, but the album also features Nathan Smurthwaite (The Marrying Type, The Abodox) on guitars, Steve Moore on trombone, Edd Key (Spittin’ Image) on stand up bass, James McAlister (Sufjan Stevens, Richard Swift, Ester Drang) on drums, and Phil Peterson (Nada Surf, Mastodon, Chronicles of Narnia Soundtrack) on cello. Hilary, one of Shannon’s three hens, adds some clucking on "Hard Times Are Coming." The Breadwinner will be released on Sept. 8.



Tracklist:

1. More To Speak Of
2. Hard Times Are Coming
3. The One Who Sees Me
4. In Summer in the Heat (click to listen, right click to download)
5. Come To My Table
6. The Most Delicious Hours
7. Song of the Breadwinner
8. The Dream
9. Poor Man's Part
10. Seems I'm Never Tired Lovin' You

Related links:
List of the Day: Five Amazing Albums in My iTunes You've Never Heard Of
List of the Day: A Dozen Ways Sufjan Stevens Spent 2008
Shannon Stephens on Asthmatic Kitty

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