Lyricist: Raymond Byron.

Personnel: Sufjan Stevens (vocals, banjo, piano, pump organ); Jana Hunter (vocals); Adam Mitchell (E-bow, keyboards, bass guitar); Jesse Ainslie (mandolin); Scott Tuma (piano, pump organ); Dawn Smithson (bass guitar).

Photographer: Yoni Kifle.

This is the fourth proper full-length from Ray Raposa, the San Diego slash Brooklyn slash Portland, Oregon-based musician behind Castanets. To record it, he settled in yet another place, holing up in an isolated Nevada motel room for three weeks by himself. Vast and dusky, the songs on the album play out like a western or southern gothic movie soundtrack by Ennio Morricone or Ry Cooder. It's fleshed out with instrumental interludes and noise experiments, but remains anchored to a familiar Castanets sound with twangy strummers like "Prettiest Chain" and "Refuge 1."