May 28, 2010: Sufjan Stevens

Artist: Sufjan Stevens
Album: Illinois
Year: 2005

Sufjan Stevens was born to write music for me to listen to. While his first "state album", Michigan, set the format of "write lots of songs and instrumentals with tongue-in-cheek big names", it's Illinois where Sufjan perfects his own template. Don't be turned off by the song titles (such as "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 Going to Have to Leave Now, or, 'I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!'" or "A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze" - which is exactly what it sounds like) - the indie-folk-pop Sufjan bounces around on this album is absolutely brilliant. I can't think of any song as unsettling as "John Wayne Gacy, Jr.", or as triumphant as "Chicago", as reflective as "Casimir Polaski Day" or as jubilant as "Decatur, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Stepmother!". The album itself shows Sufjan Stevens has a sense of humor about the whole "project", and it being more in good fun rather than in ostentatious nature really sets the message: Sufjan thinks Illinois is a pretty neat state (and it is), and writes a whole bunch of jams about it that mostly remains universal or associated in a way that's personal to him. We get to reap the rewards of this, and this is by far one of the best albums of this decade and generation of music. To hear it once is to love it forever. Personal favorite: "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhh!" or maybe "Come On! Feel The Illinoise! Part I: The World's Colombian Exposition / Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream". I don't buy many albums*, but I wager there are at least two copies in my house (one being my father's) and one in my car. Highly recommended.

Hear it for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDRrqcZbdPU

* I was originally going to write "I don't usually buy albums, but when I do, I prefer Sufjan Stevens". Which would make me... the most pretentious blogger in the world.