Sufjan Stevens Makes Instrumental Album With National Frontman, Stepdad

Hey, guess what? A new Sufjan Stevens album is coming out! And no, it's not the follow-up to 2005's Illinois.

Stevens has recorded an instrumental album with Lowell Brams, his stepfather, and The National's Bryce Dessner called Music For Insomnia that's out Dec. 8 through Asthmatic Kitty.

The disc is part of the Library Catalog series, a collection of albums that are meant to be used as intentional background music. Brams and Stevens play all the instruments on Music For Insomnia, and Dessner contributed guitar to one of its tracks.

Two other Library Catalog albums will be released on Dec. 8, and they include Music For Memory (featuring Helado Negro singer Robert Carlos Lange) and Music For Savage Tropical Imagery (featuring ex-Crystal Skulls member Yuuki Matthews).

Stevens will release The BQE, a multimedia set documenting his 2007 performance in Brooklyn, N.Y. that was inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, on Oct. 20.

You can see Stevens on Monday at New York City's Bowery Ballroom, and Tuesday and Wednesday at Brooklyn, N.Y.'s Music Hall Of Williamsburg.