I really do believe he is one of a kind. The king of unrecognized pop. What breed of artist bursts back onto the scene with an EP and a new album in the one year, I quote “leaving indie kids everywhere scrambling for their inhalers.’? Sufjan is what I like to call unparalleled.
Yesterday when I bought the album, my friend asked, “What music does he play?”. Could you really categorize him? I said, “Banjos, choirs, piano, freak music”. That was probably extremely inaccurate.
This time, instead of humanizing the locations, inhabitants, and trivia of a certain slab of America, he's more concerned with his own state of mind. Sounds from "Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel the Illinoise" and Michigan are still here, they are just wrapped in a layer of beats, bleeps, and squelches. Banjos are out; moody electronics, deep bass, and drums are all a bit groovy for my liking.
One of the things I always enjoy is his cover art. This LP was no exception. The unsettling cover art paying homage to schizophrenic artist Royal Robertson, adds weight to those rumours of Sufjan taking a U-turn into extra-terrestrial electronic ambience. Have aliens kidnapped Stevens? Most probably.
“Now I'm Older” featuring the same, heavenly choir from its ancestors, and Sufjan pulling off a heart-shattering falsetto, it's a dazzling moment - Sigur Rós less the gobbledygook. The lyrics are moving as well, Sufjan cooing, “I wasn't older yet, I wasn't wiser yet/Somewhere out there I lost whatever else I could get, I wasn't over you,” like a reminiscing Holden Caulfield. Woo go Sufjan! That single track bulges with more engaging ideas than most artists could muster in a career, and there's no one else on earth that could've come up with it.
Hysterical Melodrama.
That’s all folks; have a Casimir Pulaski Day.
Article comments
1 - Maurita
Come On! Feel the Illinoise! is possibly one of the most amazing songs. Lovely review.
2 - Triniman
I wish he would tour Canada. He's had a lot of buzz over the past few years but hasn't capitalized on it as much as he could have.
3 - Ross
"This time, instead of humanizing the locations, inhabitants, and trivia of a certain slab of America, he's more concerned with his own state of mind."
Hey, the first sentence of your third paragraph is taken word-for-word from the Pitchfork interview. It's the second sentence there in their review. Plagiarism much?
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14738-the-age-of-adz/
4 - Jose
Get a life much?
5 - Ian
I agree Ross, the author needs to know how to use "" - However, it's still an amazing article.