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DENISON WITMER
Anything At All(Asthmatic Kitty Records)
Add date: 2.18.2025
Release date: 2.14.2025
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Denison Witmer returns with a new collection of ten vibrant and pensive folk-pop songs recorded and produced by Sufjan Stevens, his long-time friend and collaborator. Anything At All finds Denison in a suitably reflective mood, mining sublime revelation from an ordinary, domesticated life. Topics like bird watching, carpentry, houseplants, and hiking offer insights into bigger, existential questions about life, death, meaning, and purpose. What are we doing with the precious time we have left on this earth? Whether it’s spent making clocks, gathering berries, planting trees, or putting the kids to bed at night, these songs suggest that a life lived with thoughtfulness and care can lead to deeper joy and fulfillment.
Recorded sporadically over a period of two years, Anything At All was primarily created at Sufjan’s Catskills studio during the pandemic, with additional sessions recorded by Andy Park, in Seattle, WA. Contributors include Stevens and Park as well as Sam Evian, Hannah Cohen, Sean Lane, and Keenan O'Meara, amongst others. The album’s musical aesthetic marries Denison’s folksy, Mennonite vibe with Sufjan’s signature bells and whistles: lush strings and woodwinds, women’s choir, and an occasional jazzy saxophone weave their way around Denison’s matter-of-fact vocals and acoustic guitar. These are simple folk songs with bursts of awe and wonder.
When Denison Witmer released his eleventh LP, American Foursquare, in 2020, it ended an unintentional seven-year hiatus from recording and releasing. American Foursquare was a poignant document of Denison’s time spent away from the music industry – a more personal journey through marriage, fatherhood, and moving back to his home town of Lancaster, PA. Throughout, Witmer sang richly and graciously about the people and places that make up his life.
This time around, Denison was determined not to take as long between albums and quickly got back to work. In 2022, after chatting with Sufjan and learning he was looking for a new creative project, Denison shared a series of sketches and phone notes, mostly written during the 2020 pandemic lockdown, and the pair decided to spend a few days getting some basic tracks started. They worked together for a long weekend and ended up with a batch of six initial tracks. Denison then brought these nascent ideas to Seattle, where he and Andy Park further built on Sufjan’s original ideas – adding drums, strings, and vocals.
After the Seattle sessions, however, Sufjan had new ideas for this collection of songs and wanted time to keep developing them further. “I think he started to feel invested in the songs, which was really sweet,” Denison says, reflecting on that time. “I misunderstood his generous offer of helping me ‘get started’ when what he actually meant was: ‘Let’s make a record together.’ So I had to reorganize my brain regarding what the record was going to be and how it was going to sound.”
After another week together reworking the songs and adding further arrangements, the project had ballooned into ten, mostly arranged songs, just awaiting finishing touches. What followed, however, was a long pause while Sufjan recovered from a complicated and unexpected health crisis. Denison quickly made the decision to put the project on the shelf. The pair had already both put so much energy into the album; Denison wanted them to see the project through together. And so, for a while, Denison was simply a friend – and it’s that connection, those bonds that we create and carry with us, that is the beating heart of Anything At All.
Denison started writing and releasing music when he was 19 years old. Along with releasing albums and touring all over the world, he’s always been a jack of all trades. “I never made a ton of money. I quickly learned that if I wanted something nice, the best way to get it was to build it myself.” What started as a woodworking hobby has now blossomed into a full carpentry business where Denison builds anything from kitchens to custom furniture for recording studios. “I always joke with Sufjan that he keeps me around because of my Mennonite upbringing and my utilitarian work ethic.”
Denison and Sufjan met in 2003. “I was on tour in Scandinavia when a friend gave me a copy of Sufjan’s album, Michigan. I listened to it on repeat for a few weeks,” Denison recalls. Shortly thereafter, he reached out to Sufjan to do a two-week tour of the Midwest. “It was just the two of us in a midsize rental car. You get to know someone pretty quickly when you’re in the car together for seven hours a day.” The two have been friends ever since. “The best thing about this whole project was that Sufjan and I got to spend a lot of time together. We’ve been friends for over 20 years now, and though he has played on a few of my albums, we haven’t worked on music together in over ten years. It’s also the first time he’s produced and arranged any of my songs from start to finish.”
Throughout the process Sufjan steered Denison in new and challenging ways, questioning his lyrics, pushing him to explore the things that had been left unsaid, deliberately or otherwise. What might have been a challenge simply reinforced their bond, the process becoming a comfortable space for the pair to spend time being in a creative mindset together, during otherwise difficult circumstances. “We had so much fun just being in each other’s company. Even though the motivation of the project was to make a record, it became as much about the process as it was the outcome. It was a nice reminder to keep moving forward… to keep working on the things that inspire me with people that inspire me.”
If Denison sounds reflective, it’s because he is. He says that he’s beginning to see the world that he’s leaving for his children, and wants to focus more on simple things like being a good person and caring for others. “I want to show my children how to live in a community in a meaningful way. How to filter the signal from the noise and focus on what really matters,” he explains. “In many ways, [Anything at All] is a record for them. It might be a little preachy in moments – but I think I'm at a phase of my life where I can sing a couple of preachy songs. I can live with that.”
Perhaps the album’s greatest gift is the balance Denison’s songs find within Sufjan’s signature production. While there’s an occasional push and a pull between their two styles, the finished record makes for a gorgeous marriage: Denison’s more plain-stated style, and the spaces he intuitively leaves, gently coloured by Sufjan’s unique style.
“Older And Free” is a soothing meditation on the freedom found in the outdoors, a gulp of fresh air swirling with subtle percussive flourishes and Sufjan’s signature choral swells that color Denison’s laidback delivery.
The opening track, “Focus Ring,” is a plaintive ballad on the idea of extending generosity to yourself and others. “Are you an artist or an engineer?” Denison sings, questioning his own place in the world. “Does the word feel straight, or did things get weird? Anything at all you need.”
The spirited “A House With” was one of the first songs written and one of the last to be finished - produced by Sufjan from start to finish. The song is brought to life as Denison’s voice is joined by female vocal echoes, building into a rhythmic crescendo, before simplifying to Denison’s dry vocal singing, “I wanted to have a house full of life and meaning, but everything is wild and fleeting.”
“Shade I’ll Never See” is gorgeously animated, a sweeping three minutes where bursts of instrumentation provide a backdrop for Denison to contemplate the world wants to manifest, as he reminds us and himself: “If I don’t make time for it, it’ll never happen.”
“Slow Motion Slow” shifts the tone and pace once more. Over a stunning eight minutes, the track grows from a sparse meditation to epic and ambitious, before the whole thing unravels again into tender and striking strings.
“Sufjan and I made this record on trade,” Denison says, exploring the roots of the album’s long journey. “He said he would produce my album and I said I would build him a really big, beautiful dining room table in exchange. I’ve built many things for Sufjan over the years. When he asks me if I can make something, I design it, I send him drawings, we discuss details, make changes, and then I build. I love that I have all of these pieces of our friendship timeline in his home.” He continues, “He interacts with them every day. I see how they hold up and change over the years and I make little adjustments to the way I build the next things. Making music with him feels the same way. I see this album as something he made not just with me, but for me. I will come back to it over the years and not only hear the process of making it together, but also the sentiment of our friendship and his generosity and love toward me.”
Apple Music
Asthmatic Kitty Records
Bandcamp
Official Website
Spotify
Tidal
Denison Witmer returns with a new collection of ten vibrant and pensive folk-pop songs recorded and produced by Sufjan Stevens, his long-time friend and collaborator. Anything At All finds Denison in a suitably reflective mood, mining sublime revelation from an ordinary, domesticated life. Topics like bird watching, carpentry, houseplants, and hiking offer insights into bigger, existential questions about life, death, meaning, and purpose. What are we doing with the precious time we have left on this earth? Whether it’s spent making clocks, gathering berries, planting trees, or putting the kids to bed at night, these songs suggest that a life lived with thoughtfulness and care can lead to deeper joy and fulfillment.
Recorded sporadically over a period of two years, Anything At All was primarily created at Sufjan’s Catskills studio during the pandemic, with additional sessions recorded by Andy Park, in Seattle, WA. Contributors include Stevens and Park as well as Sam Evian, Hannah Cohen, Sean Lane, and Keenan O'Meara, amongst others. The album’s musical aesthetic marries Denison’s folksy, Mennonite vibe with Sufjan’s signature bells and whistles: lush strings and woodwinds, women’s choir, and an occasional jazzy saxophone weave their way around Denison’s matter-of-fact vocals and acoustic guitar. These are simple folk songs with bursts of awe and wonder.
When Denison Witmer released his eleventh LP, American Foursquare, in 2020, it ended an unintentional seven-year hiatus from recording and releasing. American Foursquare was a poignant document of Denison’s time spent away from the music industry – a more personal journey through marriage, fatherhood, and moving back to his home town of Lancaster, PA. Throughout, Witmer sang richly and graciously about the people and places that make up his life.
This time around, Denison was determined not to take as long between albums and quickly got back to work. In 2022, after chatting with Sufjan and learning he was looking for a new creative project, Denison shared a series of sketches and phone notes, mostly written during the 2020 pandemic lockdown, and the pair decided to spend a few days getting some basic tracks started. They worked together for a long weekend and ended up with a batch of six initial tracks. Denison then brought these nascent ideas to Seattle, where he and Andy Park further built on Sufjan’s original ideas – adding drums, strings, and vocals.
After the Seattle sessions, however, Sufjan had new ideas for this collection of songs and wanted time to keep developing them further. “I think he started to feel invested in the songs, which was really sweet,” Denison says, reflecting on that time. “I misunderstood his generous offer of helping me ‘get started’ when what he actually meant was: ‘Let’s make a record together.’ So I had to reorganize my brain regarding what the record was going to be and how it was going to sound.”
After another week together reworking the songs and adding further arrangements, the project had ballooned into ten, mostly arranged songs, just awaiting finishing touches. What followed, however, was a long pause while Sufjan recovered from a complicated and unexpected health crisis. Denison quickly made the decision to put the project on the shelf. The pair had already both put so much energy into the album; Denison wanted them to see the project through together. And so, for a while, Denison was simply a friend – and it’s that connection, those bonds that we create and carry with us, that is the beating heart of Anything At All.
Denison started writing and releasing music when he was 19 years old. Along with releasing albums and touring all over the world, he’s always been a jack of all trades. “I never made a ton of money. I quickly learned that if I wanted something nice, the best way to get it was to build it myself.” What started as a woodworking hobby has now blossomed into a full carpentry business where Denison builds anything from kitchens to custom furniture for recording studios. “I always joke with Sufjan that he keeps me around because of my Mennonite upbringing and my utilitarian work ethic.”
Denison and Sufjan met in 2003. “I was on tour in Scandinavia when a friend gave me a copy of Sufjan’s album, Michigan. I listened to it on repeat for a few weeks,” Denison recalls. Shortly thereafter, he reached out to Sufjan to do a two-week tour of the Midwest. “It was just the two of us in a midsize rental car. You get to know someone pretty quickly when you’re in the car together for seven hours a day.” The two have been friends ever since. “The best thing about this whole project was that Sufjan and I got to spend a lot of time together. We’ve been friends for over 20 years now, and though he has played on a few of my albums, we haven’t worked on music together in over ten years. It’s also the first time he’s produced and arranged any of my songs from start to finish.”
Throughout the process Sufjan steered Denison in new and challenging ways, questioning his lyrics, pushing him to explore the things that had been left unsaid, deliberately or otherwise. What might have been a challenge simply reinforced their bond, the process becoming a comfortable space for the pair to spend time being in a creative mindset together, during otherwise difficult circumstances. “We had so much fun just being in each other’s company. Even though the motivation of the project was to make a record, it became as much about the process as it was the outcome. It was a nice reminder to keep moving forward… to keep working on the things that inspire me with people that inspire me.”
If Denison sounds reflective, it’s because he is. He says that he’s beginning to see the world that he’s leaving for his children, and wants to focus more on simple things like being a good person and caring for others. “I want to show my children how to live in a community in a meaningful way. How to filter the signal from the noise and focus on what really matters,” he explains. “In many ways, [Anything at All] is a record for them. It might be a little preachy in moments – but I think I'm at a phase of my life where I can sing a couple of preachy songs. I can live with that.”
Perhaps the album’s greatest gift is the balance Denison’s songs find within Sufjan’s signature production. While there’s an occasional push and a pull between their two styles, the finished record makes for a gorgeous marriage: Denison’s more plain-stated style, and the spaces he intuitively leaves, gently coloured by Sufjan’s unique style.
“Older And Free” is a soothing meditation on the freedom found in the outdoors, a gulp of fresh air swirling with subtle percussive flourishes and Sufjan’s signature choral swells that color Denison’s laidback delivery.
The opening track, “Focus Ring,” is a plaintive ballad on the idea of extending generosity to yourself and others. “Are you an artist or an engineer?” Denison sings, questioning his own place in the world. “Does the word feel straight, or did things get weird? Anything at all you need.”
The spirited “A House With” was one of the first songs written and one of the last to be finished - produced by Sufjan from start to finish. The song is brought to life as Denison’s voice is joined by female vocal echoes, building into a rhythmic crescendo, before simplifying to Denison’s dry vocal singing, “I wanted to have a house full of life and meaning, but everything is wild and fleeting.”
“Shade I’ll Never See” is gorgeously animated, a sweeping three minutes where bursts of instrumentation provide a backdrop for Denison to contemplate the world wants to manifest, as he reminds us and himself: “If I don’t make time for it, it’ll never happen.”
“Slow Motion Slow” shifts the tone and pace once more. Over a stunning eight minutes, the track grows from a sparse meditation to epic and ambitious, before the whole thing unravels again into tender and striking strings.
“Sufjan and I made this record on trade,” Denison says, exploring the roots of the album’s long journey. “He said he would produce my album and I said I would build him a really big, beautiful dining room table in exchange. I’ve built many things for Sufjan over the years. When he asks me if I can make something, I design it, I send him drawings, we discuss details, make changes, and then I build. I love that I have all of these pieces of our friendship timeline in his home.” He continues, “He interacts with them every day. I see how they hold up and change over the years and I make little adjustments to the way I build the next things. Making music with him feels the same way. I see this album as something he made not just with me, but for me. I will come back to it over the years and not only hear the process of making it together, but also the sentiment of our friendship and his generosity and love toward me.”