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Sufjan Stevens is pretty good, isn't he?

Started by alan nagsworth, November 14, 2018, 12:13:33 PM

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alan nagsworth

Aye, so in my ongoing recent spate of "fuck me, why have I never given this the time of day before?" (which, among other things, most importantly lead me to becoming enthralled in "Songs in the Key of Life" and the Beatles' "White Album" in recent weeks, instead of opting to nose-dive straight into classic commuter comforts such as "The Noise Made By People" or "Antichrist Superstar"), yesterday I finally took the bold step into the records of Sufjan, starting no less with the critically acclaimed "Illinois".

Some fuckin album! Considering it carries the same stylistic air of "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea", only far more grandiose, impeccably produced and rich in lyrical depth (that effortlessly supersedes the acid-twinged Anne Frank lamenting of "Aeroplane", wonderful though that is), I'm surprised I'd never discovered this before. This is especially since in the last decade I've rinsed "Aeroplane" to death and now have no real burning desire to listen to it again.

Sufjan really is quite the storyteller. I'm only on my third listen and there is so much here to unpack, but if you can turn the story of a serial killer into a gut-wrenchingly sad acoustic number, I'd say that's as much a testament to your talents than any of the far more expansive numbers on this album. Similarly, on all three listens of "Casimir Pulaski Day", I was straight-up reduced to tears. Wonderful songwriting.

Since it's my day off today and I've no plans, I was considering smoking a joint, going for a walk in the park and immersing myself in "Carrie & Lowell" for the first time, although I can't decide if that's a good idea or not, and whether I should just stay in bed and do it instead. Either way, I'll report back afterwards.

non capisco

Yeah, he's amazing. I'll post something more verbose about the cherubic voiced such and such later. You know there's a whole Illinois offcuts album, 'The Avalanche', which is nearly as good as Illinois, right? Also I suspect you'll love 'The Age Of Adz' a ton.

'Carrie And Lowell' is his other masterpiece, emotionally brutalising though. I really should have put 'John, My Beloved' in the "songs you can't hear without crying" thread.

Never finished his states albums, did he? Stopped at two, the lazy cunt.

Crabwalk

Nags, I thought you'd tried Illinoise before and hated it? I didn't want to pick you up on that at the time, but I was surprised as I thought it had lots of features you'd love. Glad you're getting into it now, it's a fucking masterpiece.

SpiderChrist

Illinois is the only Sufjan album I've heard, but I did go through a phase of listening to it almost daily. Was reminded of it the other night while re-watching Little Miss Sunshine, so will have to dig it out and listen to it again (if I can stop listening to The White Album reissue, that is).

"John Wayne Gacy Jr" is a fucking amazing piece of music - eerie and heartbreaking, with the most beautiful vocal performance.

sevendaughters

Funnily enough Sufjan came up on a forum I frequent more just the other day where I concluded that I only really liked the relatively restrained Seven Swans and Michigan, and found most of his other stuff overstuffed (like Illinois, which reminds me of some strange John Lewis musical theatre preciousness for Gifted Children) or boring (BQE, Adz), or a retread of a sound he did better before (Carrie & Lowell). I also just do not do Christmas music outside of Low, so there's that whole bit gone too. His talent feels at undeniable level, but just not channelled into a thing I want most of the time.

He's an interesting character, definitely not 'bedwetter folk' as some have conceived of him as, and the existence of him promoted the more interesting Danielson into some kind of limelight. I loved when that list came out a few years ago of 'satanic music' and 'recommended music' from some Christian site. He was in the former list, but he wrote to them to say his music was about God, so they moved him across!

Quote from: non capisco on November 14, 2018, 01:20:00 PM
Never finished his states albums, did he? Stopped at two, the lazy cunt.

I read that Carrie and Lowell began life as Oregon, so I do think it is in his mind.

kngen

For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti would be my suggestion for the 'songs that make you cry' thread. Never imagined that a banjo could make me weep.

DrGreggles


kittens

listened to age of adz a year or so ago on a whim and it's wall to wall banger. dunno why i haven't listened to more. o.k. cheers will do now

grassbath

He's my second, maybe third favourite songwriter of all time. So much to love and so many initial thoughts I'm afraid I won't be able to properly type them. And a good time to make this thread - Christmas is usually a good time for Sufjan fans, not just because his music suits the season rather well (and he's made two compilations of Christmas music), but you can usually expect a new release.

But first:

Quote from: alan nagsworth on November 14, 2018, 12:13:33 PM
Aye, so in my ongoing recent spate of "fuck me, why have I never given this the time of day before?" (which, among other things, most importantly lead me to becoming enthralled in "Songs in the Key of Life" and the Beatles' "White Album" in recent weeks)

I always thought you'd love the White Album given another chance at it - to me it's absolutely the blueprint for Nagsworth fave Ween! Have been holding off on a PM about this for ages.

Anyway, to get back on topic...

Sufjan to me is a total original and isn't given nearly enough credit as a kind of Great American Eccentric, head and shoulders above the stuff he gets lumped in with like Iron & Wine and Fleet Foxes. Ghostly, humbled, devotional Christian folk artist leads the high school choir and marching band with whacko electronica, Steve Reich minimalism and highly melodramatic, almost Disneyesque orchestration, wrapped up in high-concept lyrics - often all on the same album. Sure it's kinda... precocious, as sevendaughters pointed out above, but I don't mind that.

There's something about the sound of his music at the base level - just how he arranges, mixes and pans a very simple combination of acoustic guitar, banjo and piano is really beautiful. That sparse, sparkly, wintry-warm sound you can hear in nearly every Sufjan song. Futile Devices, Romulus, That Dress Looks Nice On You or That Was the Worst Christmas Ever! are just a handful of examples where this shines throughout. That shit is magical to me.

Lyrically, all the grand State Project stuff aside, I love the way he blurs the line between romantic and religious, sexual and sacred - the body of a lover and the body of Christ are often one and the same, and some have speculated on the role that sexuality and associated crises of faith play in his music. My personal fave album is The Age of Adz (Illinois is probably pound-for-pound his best work, though it does trail off a little at the end IMO), which represents that crisis at full blast. It's an utterly bonkers album that takes some time to 'get' and I rarely listen to it these days, but it has soundtracked some tough times and I have a pretty special relationship with it in all its daft, dramatic, fucked-up glory, and it can still floor me.

'I Walked' from that record would be my contender in this thread for the 'songs that can make you cry' - it's a song, in Stevens' own words, about the 'physics' of being in a relationship, a kind of magnetism of words and actions which you have no choice but to go through with. But when he's yelling at the end 'I walked, 'cause you walked,' the religious message is writ large - 'I am here because You made it possible.'

Twit 2

He's great.

I like this one a lot:

https://youtu.be/7j0SP6WNvQs

I don't always have the patience for some of the extended minimalist stuff, but I adore his shorter ballads. 'Should Have Known Better' is an absolute joy of a song. I really like what he did for CMBYN, and his vocals on this are great (then in descends into the plinkyplonks):
https://youtu.be/YG8wLT8SFiw

DJ Bob Hoskins

So, have all ye merry Sufjan fans been spinning the Christmas box sets recently? I know I have. The first set of EPs in particular are up there with his best work if you ask me.

I assume this is old news to devoted fans, but one of the best of the Xmas EPs was the one which leaked online in 2008 and was later re-recorded for the Silver and Gold release. It's superior to the released version in my opinion. It's available here for the uninitiated.

It's worth it for the piano-led version of Christmas in the Room, which might well be my favourite Sufjan recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYlCftBP2lc

Happy Astral Inter-Planet Space Captain Christmas Infinity Voyage everyone!

colacentral

Quote from: sevendaughters on November 14, 2018, 04:16:55 PM
Funnily enough Sufjan came up on a forum I frequent more just the other day where I concluded that I only really liked the relatively restrained Seven Swans and Michigan, and found most of his other stuff overstuffed (like Illinois, which reminds me of some strange John Lewis musical theatre preciousness for Gifted Children) or boring (BQE, Adz), or a retread of a sound he did better before (Carrie & Lowell). I also just do not do Christmas music outside of Low, so there's that whole bit gone too. His talent feels at undeniable level, but just not channelled into a thing I want most of the time.

He's an interesting character, definitely not 'bedwetter folk' as some have conceived of him as, and the existence of him promoted the more interesting Danielson into some kind of limelight. I loved when that list came out a few years ago of 'satanic music' and 'recommended music' from some Christian site. He was in the former list, but he wrote to them to say his music was about God, so they moved him across!

I read that Carrie and Lowell began life as Oregon, so I do think it is in his mind.

I basically agree with this. Binged him in the early-mid 2000s then fell off, and now it's just not for me - a bit too light and wispy, sort of a lightweight Elliott Smith to my ears.

I agree about Michigan and Seven Swans being better albums - Illinois has too much which sounds like filler to me, and some of the ott arrangements are very of their time and I can find them grating. Though "Predatory Wasp of the Palisades" is probably my single favourite song of his - that one is perfection.

DJ Bob Hoskins

Funny, I love his stripped-down acoustic stuff but Michigan is one that I never really fell in love with. I always found it a bit too melancholy and downbeat, which is saying something as a fanboy of his.

What's the consensus on A Sun Came? That's another one that I don't go back to particularly often. I find it very patchy but it is bejewelled with the gems that are Happy Birthday and Dumb I Sound, for starters.

grassbath

The lady I'm seeing just gifted me the Songs for Christmas vinyl box set, I'm bloody chuffed!

Quote from: DJ Bob Hoskins on December 19, 2018, 09:39:11 PM
Funny, I love his stripped-down acoustic stuff but Michigan is one that I never really fell in love with. I always found it a bit too melancholy and downbeat, which is saying something as a fanboy of his.

I think it's opening with 'Flint' that does it. The jingly bustling 5/4 suite pieces do add a bit of levity, but it's a very 'cold' album overall.