Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine, courtesy.

What could be more beautiful than an artist drawing inspiration from another piece of art to then create his own unique and personal piece? Taylor Swift did it with Reputation after watching Game of Thrones and Jay-Z took the name American Gangster straight from the film for his 2007 album. It demonstrates musical dexterity and allows for new channels of analysis to open for both the original and inspired art.

This is exactly what happened to musicians and friends Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine when they went to a cabin in Upstate New York to watch movies compulsively, ultimately gaining inspiration for their first collaborative project, A Beginner’s Mind. As a not-so-surprising result, the album’s theme and lyrics are heavily influenced by films they watched, all the way down to the album and single covers that are heavily reminiscent of films like “Creature from The Black Lagoon,” “Silence of the Lambs” and “The Wizard of Oz.”

It’s not that every track tells the plot of a film, but instead the duo weaved fluttery and poetic verses over whimsical arrangements tinged with names and plot points similar to those in films.

The album opens with “Reach Out” with light guitar picking and harmonizing by Stevens and De Angelo as they remembered what home felt like in their previous relationships. Inspired by German fantasy film “Wings of Desire,” the cinematic references are less apparent on this track, though partially because this film is just less discussed these days.

“Lady Macbeth in Chains” interprets the iconic “All About Eve,” taking Bette Davis’ character Margo Channing and comparing her to Lady Macbeth herself. “Just as the flame is on the reservoir/ The darkness arises so much brighter,” they sing, describing how Channing was once the brightest star on Broadway but is stuck swimming upstream as she ages and roles continue to elude her. The narrative of ageism against actresses is commonly heard in the 2020s. The song, fortunately, doesn’t come off like an awkward lauding of the influential film.

But other tracks still aren’t as explicit in their narrative, even “Back to Oz,” where Stevens and De Angelp don’t describe the events of Dorothy Gale’s journey through Oz, but instead a strained or ruined relationship with oneself. “All my life was calling/ All my dreams were buried away,” they sing in the opening lines. Doesn’t that send the same message felt as when Judy Garland sings “Over the Rainbow ” with the dark sepia filter indicating rural Kansas?

“The Pillars of Souls” is based on the “Hellraiser” series with references to the film’s somewhat demonic Cenobites and is punctuated by ambient noise and airy piano, while “You Give Death A Bad Name,” is based on 1968’s “Night of the Living Dead.” “Olympus,” inspired by “Clash of The Titans,” finds the duo looking to plan its great escape from the chaos before it.

On the short (composed of just a few short stanzas) but gorgeous “It’s Your Own Body and Mind,” the guitar playing supports the duo. There are no direct cinematic references but with lyrics like, “She’s gotta have it/ She’s got a dream/ And she’ll make it a habit/ Of doing her own thing,” it seems the pair saw a film along the lines of “She’s Gotta Have It” or even “Bend It Like Beckham.” 

“Fictional California,” the B-side to “Back to Oz,” features lighter guitar picking that elevates the Sufjan Stevens’ and Angelo De Augustine’s harmonizing as they recall surviving the spectacle of their youth and remind those still in university to “Open your life to the hardness/ Open your mind ‘til it all falls out.” The penultimate track, “Cimmerian Shade,” makes full-blown references to the groundbreaking “Silence of the Lambs,” asking, “Fix it all, Jonathan Demme.” Demme, the screenwriter, created a piece of work that remains a staple of American film scripts and is easily the true hero of the disturbing psychopathic film.

A Beginner’s Mind is great for two reasons: It’s musically intimate and easily listenable, and additionally, it’s filled with references to so many films that there’s bound to be one you enjoyed. Though the lyrics aren’t overly conceptual, it deserves to be interpreted by these artists’ ability to write based on other works far before their time.

Follow Domenic Strazzabosco at Twitter.com/domenicstrazz and Instagram.com/domenicstrazz.