Plaintive, pretty and stripped-back but neither precious nor bare, Carrie & Lowell hits the mark. In arrangement and level of orchestration, it's quite the contrast from the last - and only previous - Sufjan that I've listened to, Illinois (more than a decade ago, wow), but there's plenty of continuity too. High points are sprinkled throughout, "Should Have Known Better", "All of Me Wants All of You", "Eugene", "Fourth of July", "The Only Thing"...
