It's OK, Sufjan Stevens fans, you can piss your pants about this one -- The Age of Adz, Steven's first album in nearly five years -- will be released October 12.

This is especially good news for Arizona fans of Stevens as he is set to play Mesa Arts Center on October 22. 

For those keeping track, Adz is not named after a state -- Stevens decided to nix his lofty "states" project, stating it was more a promotional gimmick than anything else. That's not to say 2003's Michigan and 2005's Illinois aren't good albums -- they will just have to remain as Stevens' only two albums to fall under the ill-fated "states" category. Instead of America, Stevens found the inspiration for The Age of Adz (pronounced "odds") from the work of late Louisiana artist Royal Robertson (1930-1997), whose work dons the cover of Adz.

Robertson found his inspiration from either his apocalyptic vision of the future or from the scorn he had towards his ex-wife, both of which present a very intriguing direction for Stevens to follow.

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