“I haven’t released anything in 10 years because I kind of gave up on stuff for a while, and just was like, okay, well, this isn’t working. This path is not getting me anywhere, and I need to obviously make money doing something.”

Lui eventually fell into teaching theatre and music. In all the papier-mâché projects and explaining the basics of music theory to children at an age when they’re capable of limitless enthusiasm, her own creativity was given new life.

“Working with kids was actually a huge blessing, their endless creativity and just excitement. It’s infectious.”

Over the course of a year, Lui and Stevens worked on the album whenever they could find the time. Stevens also moved to the Catskills a few years ago and has a studio there. Ultimately, their closeness and subsequent trust is what allowed Lui to stop overthinking her process.

“If I still thought of him as just the artist Sufjan, I think I would have approached it differently,” Lui tells me. “That openness was kind of there because we were friends, and it didn’t feel like just a producer role.”

Despite ’s dreamy vocals, mythological love song “Andromeda”, and the starry, illustrated visuals to her cover of The Cranberries’ “Dreams”, performed with Stevens, Lui is a staunchly pragmatic artist.