The first time you hear Sufjan Stevens it might bring to mind a Bob Dylan phrase that I am sure was in no way directed to Third Way's editor, "Something is happening but you don't know what it is, do you Mr. Jones." Stevens belongs to a little triumvirate of artists, the others being the Danielson Famile and Half Handed Cloud; avant-garde performing songwriters who bring a slapstick musical humor to heavy Biblical themes. My friend Denison Witmer had recommended Stevens' Michigan album as the album of the year a few years ago and when I added to the concert I'd just seen by the Danielson family I knew indeed something must be happening but I had no clue as to whether it was good, bad or brilliant.
Michigan was Stevens' first album in an ambitious series that will cover all the States of the Union. Before the second in the series, Come On Feel the Illinoise, landed on my mat I'd seen Stevens live, which had given me a few big clues to what was going on even though the band wearing fluffy angel wings and little halos did nothing for my suspicions of madness. By the time of Illinoise, though, Witmer was not the only one waxing lyrical. Raving reviews were littering the media including Rolling Stone and he was the featured album of the month in Virgin Records across North America.
So what is happening Mr. Jones? Well, Stevens went to music school at Interlochen Arts Academy for a year when he was 14 to play oboe and study reed making. Musically, this is layered, original and simply cluttered with fascinating composition, full of orchestral interruptions, heavenly harmonies and melodies that lurk in the seeming chaos in order to sneak out and grab you with perpetually beautiful hooks.
He later studied a creative writing program at the New School in New York and there is a literary strength to the eccentricity of his quirk. Long song titles and fascinating song ideas indicate that what is happening is educated and crafted. Illinoise has songs about Presidents, UFOs, child killers, friends dying of bone cancer and a two minute instrumental that has a 50 word title with four options as to what to call it.
Even more interesting in his story of intrigue is that Stevens is a Christian who has never even thought about going under the radar about it in his work or in interviews. Illinoise has God reaching down and pilgrims reaching up. God's part in the deal is taken as real and as omnipresent as God can be. God is the one who holds things together and makes all things new but when friends pray for their sick friend at the "Tuesday night Bible study" (surely a unique line in the rock canon!) the friend still dies:
All the glory that the Lord has made
And the complications when I see His face
In the morning in the window
All the glory when he took our place
But he shook my shoulders, and he shook my face
And He takes and he takes and He takes...
The clever word play captures the theme of the album in the lines, "I can't explain the state that I'm in/The state of my heart." In one album of 22 songs that is a state of the state-of-Illinois-address he finds in his cast of characters and stories a reflection of his own state of human fallen-ness and redemption. I beg to differ with Rolling Stone's reviewer who claimed the song about a clown who was a child killer "symbolizes nothing about American life except the existence of creative-writing workshops." America wishes! And more importantly, the song is not about the state of a state serial killer but about the state of Stevens' own heart. It is breathtaking.
As is the entire piece. Something is happening here and once you listen enough times to navigate the myriad of currents you can suddenly realize what it is -- the arrival of a new genius.
Other coverage for this album
Decapolis July 2005Reviewed by Peter VenessTwo down, 48 to go. On Illinois, Stevens steps firmly to the mark he created with his first state, Michigan, and goes much further into his own awkwardly beautiful, naïve sonic wonderland. While on Michigan we were taken through the trailer parks, dying relationships and Kmarts Stevens knew so well, on Illinois we are giving the tourist radio guide to a state populated by superheroes, serial…Opus 2005Reviewed by Jason MoreheadLet's get a few things out of the way first. Yes, I realize that the title of Sufjan Stevens' latest is actually Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel The Illinoise. And yes, I realize that the full song titles include such gems as "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhh!" and "Out Of Egypt, Into The Great Laugh Of Mankind, And I Shake The…The Phantom Tollbooth 2005Reviewed by Jonathan AvantsAs unimaginable as it is that I could eventually own 50+ recordings from a single artist, if Sufjan Stevens has his way (i.e. lives long enough), and if each of his state records manage to be at least as good as his newest one here, Sufjan Stevens could eventually dominate a great portion of my musical library. Jiminy! So here's the scoop with Illinois--or, Sufjan Stevens invites you to: Come on…The Phantom Tollbooth 2005Reviewed by Jamie Lee RakeWhat's not cool about Sufjan Stevens? His Turkish first name is so cool that it's the only part of his moniker needed for his website's URL. He's an alum of one of the trippiest bands ever, the Danielson Famile. With Illinoise, he's 1/25 done with his 50 States album project (his Michigan homeland came first). If his 2004's non-geographically thematic Seven Swans gave him household recognition in…Similar sounding releases
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