Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell

#979 here, after having collected myself a few versions let's be honest Carrie & Lowell has never been well pressed. And this is no different. I don't know how to feel about it, sometimes I think this is just part of the experience of listening to this album in particular, the themes, the way it was recorded and the way it's being pressed, seems like a whole. Anyway, surface noise still present all the way through side A & B but not constant and generally bearable, transitions are mostly quiet. Slightly annoying pops heard at the beginning of Fourth of July. I wiped off dust before playing. I recommend it though, it may be the best version I have. Loved the color, too however the image file which was ed for this release is way darker than reality. I'll try to mine in the future but in the meantime you can have a look at Belle & Sebastian's The Boy with the Arab Strap blue version as a close reference to the color this one has. Waiting now for the 10th anniversary pressing in May 2025.

While many others below mentioned that their copies of this version sound clean, mine had quite a lot of surface noise. My copy is numbered in the high 500s, and there's consistent noise throughout both sides A and B. Increasing the tracking force helped slightly, but the noise is still noticeable and distracting. I'm using an LP-120 turntable with a Nagaoka MP-110 cartridge. I reached out to the store and received a partial refund, as they informed me there were no spare copies left.

Surprised at all the bad reviews for this pressing. I must have gotten lucky with my copy which I got at one of his tour stops for this album.
Minimal noise during a few of the quiet times. Otherwise I still find the music beautiful and heartbreaking while revisiting it on it's 10th anniversary. They just announced a new copy for it but I'm happy with this one and feel like I don't need it.

I can't compare with any other version, but this one it's perfect.
Clean and flat record, printed inner sleeve with lyrics and the record itself sounds with 0 background noise!
Well done Konkurrent!!

Beautiful pressing, one of the best-sounding newly-pressed records I've bought for quite some time - absolutely dead silent on the run ins and between tracks. Really dynamic sound. Lovely colour too! On top of that, of course a brilliant album. Managed to find #999/1000 from my local shop :)

What on earth is a KONK40 exclusive??

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For anyone interested in buying this version of the record: At the time of writing, it is still widely available at Barnes and Noble stores and their online shop.

Mine sounds worst than the black classic edition. word word

A beautiful LP and the thickest piece of plastic in my entire collection!!!

Thank goodness this album finally got the pressing it deserves. Listened to my OG last night and was reminded how terrible it was pressed. Thankfully a quick search online showed my local B&N had a copy in stock. This is huge improvement over the crackling mess that was the first clear pressing. The variant color is also great, and pairs well with the album art. Recommended. Buy while you still can