Singer/songwriter Denison Witmer announced today his new album Anything At All will release on February 14th through Asthmatic Kitty Records. Produced and recorded by Sufjan Stevens, who also performs throughout the album, Anything At All is a new collection of ten vibrant and pensive folk-pop songs that finds the two longtime friends and collaborators working more closely than ever before on a cohesive, elegant creative effort. Denison also shared the new single from the album called “Focus Ring,” a plaintive ballad on the idea of extending generosity to yourself and others.
“Anything At All is about doubling down on family life and doing everything I can to slow the pace of my life as things around me feel busier than ever before,” said Witmer. “It’s about putting systems in place and committing to the changes needed to make it work. That commitment doesn’t come without its own set of questions, and most of the lyrics on this album deal with trying to find those answers. How do I create a world I want to raise my children in? How do I create a world I want to live in? How do I create community with like-minded people who have similar goals? The title ‘Anything At All’ comes from the phrase we often say to our friends, family, or colleagues when we are extending generosity to them. We say, ‘If there’s anything at all you need or I can do for you, please let me know.’ I think most people (myself included) tend to express that sentiment outwardly, but rarely inwardly. This record finds me comfortably stuck between that inward/outward place. The album was originally going to be called Focus Ring and the title track was going to be ‘Anything At All,’ but we ended up switching the two because both Sufjan and I felt like Anything At All was a stronger title.”
“This is the first time I’ve engineered and produced an entire album of songs for Denison,” said Sufjan. “We did a lot of it in my studio in the Catskills, which is a homey, informal space, not intimidating at all. So I think the songs capture some of that: the isolated, private, casual nature of upstate New York. We also took our time, worked in blocks between long breaks because of Covid and adult-life stuff. So there was a kind of touch-and-go nature to the process. Nothing feels hurried or immediate. A lot of big changes were happening in our lives and in the world around us, so the songs came to represent a kind of safe haven from all that.”
(tekst verder onder de video)
He continued, “I like the simplicity of the songs he wrote, how they’re mostly about domestic life, family life, housekeeping etc. And yet there’s a lot of spiritual and emotional insight too. The songs have a nice balance of the sacred and mundane. You get a good sense of how a hammer or a postcard might come to represent something more transcendent. Denison’s songs find a lot of wisdom in the everyday routine of things.”
Denison first began teasing the new album earlier this fall when he released “Older and Free,” a soothing meditation on the freedom found in the outdoors, a gulp of fresh air swirling with subtle percussive flourishes and Sufjan’s signature choral swells that color Denison’s laidback delivery. It’s a heartfelt song featuring thoughtful lyrics and rich instrumentation, inviting listeners on an introspective journey, that Stereogum called “a beautifully lush piece of indie-folk.”
Anything At All finds Denison in a suitably reflective mood, mining sublime revelation from an ordinary, domesticated life. Topics like bird watching, carpentry, houseplants, and hiking offer insights into bigger, existential questions about life, death, meaning, and purpose. Whether it’s spent making clocks, gathering berries, planting trees, or putting the kids to bed at night, these songs suggest that a life lived with thoughtfulness and care can lead to deeper joy and fulfillment.
Recorded sporadically over a period of two years, Anything At All was primarily created at Sufjan’s Catskills studio during the pandemic, with additional sessions recorded by Andy Park, in Seattle, WA. Contributors include Stevens and Park as well as Sam Evian, Hannah Cohen, Sean Lane, and Keenan O’Meara amongst others. The album’s musical aesthetic marries Denison’s folksy vibe with Sufjan’s signature bells and whistles: lush strings and woodwinds, women’s choir and an occasional jazzy saxophone weave their way around Denison’s matter-of-fact vocals and acoustic guitar. These are simple folk songs with bursts of awe and wonder.
Although they’ve been close friends and collaborators for over 20 years, Anything At All marks the first time Sufjan has produced and arranged any of Denison’s songs from start to finish. Throughout the process, he steered Denison in new and challenging ways, questioning his lyrics, pushing him to explore the things that had been left unsaid, deliberately or otherwise. What might have been a challenge simply reinforced their bond, the process becoming a comfortable space for the pair to spend time being in a creative mindset together. Perhaps the album’s greatest gift is the balance Denison’s songs find within Sufjan’s signature production. While there’s an occasional push and a pull between their two styles, the finished record makes for a gorgeous marriage: Denison’s more plain-stated style, and the spaces he intuitively leaves, gently colored by Sufjan’s unique style.
“We had so much fun just being in each other’s company,” continued Denison. “Even though the motivation of the project was to make a record, it became as much about the process as it was the outcome. It was a nice reminder to keep moving forward…to keep working on the things that inspire me with people that inspire me.”
