I place this among my favourite albums of all time, and anyone with a genuine interest in contemporary music would be well advised to investigate it. This is not just my opinion, it scored 90 on Metacritic. It’s really dense in content and almost impossible to single out particular tracks. Over time I’ve come to the conclusion that if I don’t have 74 minutes available then it’s not worth listening at all, because it’s that outdated and much disliked thing, a concept album. But possibly The Definitive One, because from start to end it is an astonishing thing. Sufjan Stevens (‘a man treading a thin line between bravery and mental illness’, Jesus Chigley, Drowned in Sound) embarked on a predictably unfeasible project in 2003 which was to produce an album about each one of the 50 US states. Greetings from Michigan was the first, and then abruptly after Illinois, the second, in 2005, he admitted it was a joke. I think if you’re already suspicious, some of the track names will disabuse you of the idea that it’s all a bit earnest, for example: To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament, and It Involves Tube Socks, a Paper Airplane, and Twenty-Two Able-Bodied Men. There are stranger ones, including the quite gorgeous The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us! At this point you can undoubtedly make the argument that concept albums are being royally sent up.
Sufjan Stevens is probably one of the major singer/songwriters of the 21st century so far, and lyrically there is a massive breadth to his writing. I’ve had this album for nearly 20 years and yet I feel I have barely scratched the surface of it; I invariably focus on the instruments and the tunes and miss out on the lyrics which are easily overlooked. But some you can’t ignore:
On the floor at the great divide
With my shirt tucked in and my shoes untied
I am crying in the bathroom
In the morning when you finally go
And the nurse runs in with her head hung low
And the cardinal hits the window
In the morning in the winter shade
On the first of March, on the holiday
I thought I saw you breathing
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 took my shoulders and He shook my face
And He takes and He takes and He takes Casimir Pulaski Day
Sufjan Stevens’s songs often elicit religious undertones that only strengthen the messages, without becoming consumed with biblical references. Sufjan told Adequacy that the correlation between his faith and his music exist because he believes faith does not influence us, rather it lives within us.
This absolves me from ever making the embarrassing effort to gratify God (and the church) by imposing religious content on anything I do.
the Illinoisemaker Choir
‘less about place than spirit’ ‘the bubbly “Decatur” (the title of which is, awesomely, rhymed with “alligator,” “aviator,” and “emancipator” ‘ ‘Stevens has a remarkable habit of being rousing and distressing at the same time’ Amanda Petrusich, Pitchfork
Another one I need to check out properly and have failed to do so.
Oopsie.
Still, looks like I need to find a solid hour and a half to dedicate to the experience.