Sufjan Stevens

    Sufjan Stevens

    Detroit, Michigan15 reviews across 5 releases

    alternative folkfolkindie popindie rock
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    Sufjan Stevens is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Michigan who began recording solo after playing in Marzuki, an indie folk-rock group formed at Hope College. He and Lowell Brams established Asthmatic Kitty, the label that issued his 1999 debut, A Sun Came. That record was a lo-fi, self-built collage of folk pop with psychedelic color and Middle Eastern touches, with Stevens playing much of the instrumentation and inserting eccentric spoken interludes. Enjoy Your Rabbit changed direction sharply in 2001, replacing guitars and banjo with electronic loops, sampled voices and glitches, while melodies emerged slowly from apparent disorder. With Michigan in 2003, he turned toward intricately arranged acoustic songwriting about his home state, using layered vocals and unusual instrumental detail without losing the intimacy of his singing.

    In 2005, Illinois carried Stevens' state-based writing into a larger, brass-and-string-heavy form while retaining the religious questioning and intimate narratives of Seven Swans. The promised fifty-state sequence did not continue as a regular album series. Stevens instead moved between forms: his 2010 The Age of Adz returned to electronic density; Carrie & Lowell in 2015 turned inward around his mother and family history; and The Ascension in 2020 pursued expansive electronic pop. He also wrote for film and theater, including work connected with "Call Me by Your Name" and the stage production Illinoise. After releasing Javelin in 2023, he disclosed that Guillain-Barre syndrome had left him hospitalized and relearning to walk.

    5 releases reviewed