I first heard Javelin a couple of weeks before its launch at a listening party at Beartree Records in Sheffield. There were eight of us there, each given a 12-inch poster for the album standing on the perimeter of the record store. Listening in silence for 45 minutes or so. The album we being played on the shop's speakers, and a few other patrons were milling about riffling through boxes of records. It may not have been the best place and setting to listen to an album that seemed to demand reflect from its lyrics. However, the album, soncially was a return to the singer/songwriter 2000s Sufjan. No epic 20-mintue anxious piano pieces, concise four-to-five mintue tracks with his signature woodwinds and vocal textures. The final track ended with a string outro lulling the listener to the final bar. On my first listen, I enjoyed the familiarity of the sounds and longing lyrics, but I also have come to grow more and more appreciative of Sufjan's more experimental compositions, and I would not have mind if a bit more of a nod to that side of his work was reflected here. Perhaps these worlds are kept seperate by design. The 5/4 time sigatures make a reappearance and finger style folk guitar is found on half of the tracks. I will be curious how the album holds up after a good few listens, but so far I enjoyed what the 10th studio release has shaped up to be.