After releasing the quietly brutal “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross” last month, Sufjan Stevens has returned with a second track from his upcoming LP Carrie & Lowell.
The delicate “Should Have Known Better” is sparse and transparently autobiographical in the same manner of “No Shade,” but more optimistic in tone. The mood and instrumentation shift from the somber beginning, in which Stevens recalls his mother leaving him at a video store, to a hopeful second half, where Sufjan sings about his niece.
A scenic, pastoral video in the style of the album trailer accompanies the song. Watch and listen below.
Carrie & Lowell is out March 31 on Asthmatic Kitty.
