Illinois
Category: sufjan stevens Reviews
Illinois sounds like The Sea and Cake collaborating with the high-school band from a Wes Anderson film on banjo-driven, pulsing meditations on Vince Guaraldi’s music for Peanuts.
Sufjan Stevens, the singer-songwriter behind the endeavor, is an earnest and whimsical young man who aims to record an album based on every state in the union, though this is just his second attempt since 2003’s Michigan. Lavish praise has been heaped upon this precocious twenty-something, who weaves personal recollections, historical narratives, and strange facts together to create lush portraits of Midwestern life.
It’s not maudlin stuff, and the atypical instrumentation (strings, choirs, trumpets, vibes) is beyond gimmick. Halfway through “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.,” when Stevens has you feeling true empathy for a serial killer, it’s clear that he really is an artist of the highest order. These are weird and lovely middlebrow ditties; we eagerly await the Broadway adaptation.
# Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
# The Black Hawk War, Or, How To Demolish An Entire Civilization And Still Feel Good About Yourself In The Morning, Or, We Apologize For The Inconvenience But You’re Gonna Have To Leave Now, Or, ‘I Have Fought The Big Knives And Will Continue To Fight…
# Come On! Feel The Illinoise!: Part I: The World’s Columbian Exposition/Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream
# John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
# Jacksonville
# A Short Reprise For Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But For Very Good Reasons
# Decatur, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Stepmother!
# One Last ‘Whoo-Hoo!’ For The Pullman
# Chicago
# Casimir Pulaski Day
# To The Workers Of The Rock River Valley Region, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament
# The Man Of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
# Prairie Fire That Wanders About
# A Conjunction Of Drones Simulating The Way In Which Sufjan Stevens Has An Existential Crisis In The Great Godfrey Maze
# The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us!
# They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhh!
# Let’s Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don’t Think They Heard It All The Way Out In Bushnell
# In This Temple As In The Hearts Of Man For Whom He Saved The Earth
# The Seer’s Tower
# The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders: Part I: The Great Frontier/Part II: Come To Me Only With Playthings Now
# Riffs And Variations On A Single Note For Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, And The King Of Swing, To Name A Few
# Out Of Egypt, Into The Great Laugh Of Mankind, And I Shake The Dirt From My Sandals As I Run
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