Sufjan Stevens has taken creative detours into textured electro-pop, orchestral suites, and holiday music, but Carrie & Lowell returns to the feathery indie folk of his quietly brilliant early-‘00s albums like Michigan and Seven Swans. Using delicate fingerpicking and breathy vocals, songs like “Eugene,” “The Only Thing,” and the Simon & Garfunkel–influenced “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross” are gorgeous reflections on childhood. When Stevens whispers in multitracked harmony over the album’s title track—an impressionistic portrait of his mother and stepfather that glows with nostalgic details—the accomplished songwriter delivers a haunting centerpiece.