Sufjan Stevens | ||
| Allmusic Biography : A singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music deals with both the personal and the spiritual while accompanied by simple but striking musical patterns, Detroit-born Sufjan Stevens started venturing into the music world while attending Hope College as a member of Marzuki, a folk-rock band based in Holland, Michigan. Following the release of two full-length albums with the group, Stevens decided to go solo in late 1999, investing fully in a career that was waiting to shine by itself. Sun Came, his debut album, appeared in 2000, confirming his superior musical command, complex instrumentation, and sparkling melodies. The promotion of the disc included playing on the road with the Danielson Famile, with whom he began regularly working. The heavily electronic Enjoy Your Rabbit, a song cycle concerning the animals of the Chinese zodiac, hit record stores in 2001, followed in 2003 by Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lake State, a 15-track conceptual piece produced and performed by Stevens -- he played over 20 instruments -- that placed his home state under the writers microscope. Despite the records narrowed focus, it was among the best-reviewed work that year and made many critics year-end lists. In 2004, Stevens released his follow-up, Seven Swans, a thoughtful, spiritual, and quasi-mystical collection of stand-alone songs produced by Danielson Famile mastermind Daniel Smith. Stevens returned to his ambitious "states" project in 2005 with the epic Illinoise (extended title: Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come on Feel the Illinoise), which became one of the best-reviewed album of 2005, spawning accolades both regional and international. (It was also smacked with a lawsuit concerning the depiction of DC Comics icon Superman on the cover, which was eventually covered by a balloon sticker and subsequently removed from further pressings.) The 21-track Avalanche: Outtakes & Extras from the Illinois Album and the five-disc Christmas box set Songs for Christmas arrived in 2006, followed in 2007 by the instrumental BQE, a self-described "symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York Citys infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway" that was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music and performed on three consecutive nights (November 1-3, 2007) in front of a film shot by Stevens, who had officially relocated to New York in 2000. Run Rabbit Run, a version of 2001s Enjoy Your Rabbit performed by the Osso String Quartet, and a recorded version, BQE, arrived in October 2009. In 2010, Stevens surprised everybody by releasing All Delighted People, a nearly 60-minute EP of new music. An all-new studio album, the surreal electronic pop manifesto The Age of Adz, arrived later in October of that year. In 2012 Stevens released the five-EP box set Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas, Vols. 6-10, the sequel to 2006s Songs for Christmas, Vols. 1-5. The year 2014 brought the release of Sisyphus, a collaboration between Stevens, Son Lux, and Serengeti. Stevens also teamed up with Yarn/Wire in 2014 to compose and perform the soundtrack to Round-Up, an impressionistic documentary film about rodeo riders. In 2015, Stevens returned with his first solo album of new, non-seasonal material since The Age of Adz; Carrie & Lowell, inspired by the death of his mother, was released in March 2015, followed by a concert tour. A November 2015 date from the tour was recorded and filmed, and released in audio and video formats as Carrie & Lowell Live, which included an extended encore of Drakes "Hotline Bling" with guest artist Gallant. The live album was issued in April 2017. June 2017 saw the release of Planetarium, a collaborative project inspired by the Solar System that featured Stevens as well as Bryce Dessner of the National, contemporary composer Nico Muhly, and percussionist James McAlister. And Stevens closed out the year with the November 2017 release of The Greatest Gift, a "mixtape" featuring outtakes and remixes from Carrie & Lowell. In 2018, Stevens released the song "Lonely Man of Winter," an 11-year-old track originally penned to promote his Songs for Christmas box set. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 17 Title: A Sun Came Released: 2000-06-13 Tracks: 18 Duration: 1:12:56 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 We Are What You Say (05:20) 2 A Winner Needs a Wand (05:44) 3 Rake (02:48) 4 Siamese Twins (00:14) 5 Demetrius (06:01) 6 Dumb I Sound (05:48) 7 Wordsworth’s Ridge (for Fran Fike) (04:54) 8 Belly Button (00:09) 9 Rice Pudding (02:24) 10 Loverless Bed (Without Remission) (06:16) 11 Godzuki (00:37) 12 Super Sexy Woman (02:42) 13 The Oracle Said Wander (05:37) 14 Happy Birthday (02:46) 15 Jason (06:09) 16 Kill (04:25) 17 Ya Leil (05:38) 18 A Sun Came (05:15) |
| A Sun Came : Allmusic album Review : The debut disc from this former member of the folk group Marzuki and sometimes Danielson Famile contributor stakes out some wide musical and thematic territory. Although it was recorded on four-track, it transcends the confines of lo-fi and can even seem sonically overambitious at times. Exploring a terrain that can only be called pan-ethnic folk, A Sun Came begins with Celtic overtones before traveling east in a global musical study. Indian, Middle Eastern, Far Eastern, American folk, and instruments ranging from banjo and sitar to oboe and xylophone (most of which are played by Stevens) -- its all found here in some form or another, which would be a bit disorienting if not for Stevens often personal lyrical turns and the wide-eyed indie rock vibe that permeates the songs no matter where they may roam. Also, short spoken word pieces are sprinkled across the album, snippets which on one hand sound like field recordings but are in actuality personal anecdotes and reflections from friends, blending further the multicultural music-lesson feel and the introspective, singer/songwriterly tunes -- a nice effect. Highlights include "Demetrius," which takes a Sonic Youth-inspired guitar riff, rides it to the British Isles for some pan pipes, then onward to a Moroccan opium den, and "A Loverless Bed," which is a beautiful, reverb-laden ballad turned noise freak-out. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 17 Title: Enjoy Your Rabbit Released: 2001-09-17 Tracks: 14 Duration: 1:19:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Year of the Asthmatic Cat (00:24) 2 Year of the Monkey (04:20) 3 Year of the Rat (08:22) 4 Year of the Ox (04:01) 5 Year of the Boar (03:55) 6 Year of the Tiger (04:24) 7 Year of the Snake (06:47) 8 Year of the Sheep (03:34) 9 Year of the Rooster (06:24) 10 Year of the Dragon (09:26) 11 Enjoy Your Rabbit (04:47) 12 Year of the Dog (04:52) 13 Year of the Horse (13:18) 14 Year of Our Lord (04:30) |
| Enjoy Your Rabbit : Allmusic album Review : Sufjan Stevens second release, Enjoy Your Rabbit, is a vast departure from the pan-ethnic folk of his debut. Using almost no exterior samples, Stevens crafts an electronic, all-"instrumental" song cycle based on the symbols of the Chinese zodiac. While working within these considerably narrower confines, he still maps out a wide musical territory by using each symbol as a mode, each one exploring different textures and tempos and, in the process, evoking a surprising array of moods. At times eerie and ominous like a backwoods Autechre, other times sounding like more club-oriented fare, Stevens sometimes trades in bloops and bleeps for oblique glitches and crackles, but the underlying guiding principle is wide-eyed exploration that fills nearly every track with a sense of playfulness. Enjoy Your Rabbit never gets too serious, although at times its very intense. Many tracks even have some sort of musical pun working just under the surface; for instance, "Year of the Horse" is by far the longest, clocking in at over 13 minutes, and "Year of the Ox" has a regular, heavy thudding beat. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 17 Title: Michigan Released: 2003-07-01 Tracks: 15 Duration: 1:06:15 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid) (03:43) 2 All Good Naysayers, Speak Up! Or Forever Hold Your Peace! (04:33) 3 For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti (03:57) 4 Say Yes! to M!ch!gan! (02:45) 5 The Upper Peninsula (03:23) 6 Tahquamenon Falls (02:18) 7 Holland (03:26) 8 Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!) (08:20) 9 Romulus (04:41) 10 Alanson, Crooked River (01:18) 11 Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie (02:52) 12 They Also Mourn Who Do Not Wear Black (For the Homeless in Muskegon) (06:21) 13 Oh God, Where Are You Now? (In Pickeral Lake? Pigeon? Marquette? Mackinaw?) (09:23) 14 Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou) (02:02) 15 Vitos Ordination Song (07:06) |
| Michigan : Allmusic album Review : Sufjan Stevenss third album is a charming homage to his home state of Michigan. Filled with heartbreak, the album cryptically addresses Stevens frustration with the notorious job market in the city of Flint in a lovely ballad that opens the record, and documents the depressing struggle the city of Detroit has fought to once again attain the elegance it had prior to the riots in the late 60s; however, it also touches on a brighter side, as in the cascading "Say Yes! to M!ch!gan!" Its title is a reference to the campaign adopted by the state in the 1980s and serves as the centerpiece as well as Stevens attachment and amour for the state he is from. Musically, Stevens often plays his Jim ORourke and Stereolab cards, riffing along with complex polyphony in building loops and dynamics, but he also frequently imports lightly strummed guitars and stark banjo picking to break up the album and give it a rustic northern folk aesthetic. Stevens comfortably handles nearly every instrument on the album -- an impressive task that includes various keyboards, woodwinds, guitars, and percussions -- but also enlisted the help of Megan, Elin, and Daniel Smith from the Danielson Famile to help out with vocal duties, and the outcome is a haunting and hypnotic studio opus certainly worth getting lost in. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 17 Title: Seven Swans Released: 2004-03-16 Tracks: 12 Duration: 46:18 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands (04:14) 2 The Dress Looks Nice on You (02:32) 3 In the Devil’s Territory (04:57) 4 To Be Alone With You (02:48) 5 Abraham (02:33) 6 Sister (06:00) 7 Size Too Small (03:04) 8 We Won’t Need Legs to Stand (02:16) 9 A Good Man Is Hard to Find (03:16) 10 He Woke Me Up Again (02:43) 11 Seven Swans (06:33) 12 The Transfiguration (05:18) |
| Seven Swans : Allmusic album Review : After completing the first installment of his planned series of 50 records -- one album dedicated to each state in the U.S. -- indie folk overachiever Sufjan Stevens returned with Seven Swans, a collection of stripped-down, introspective musings on life, love, and faith that chart the geographic location of the heart and soul. Many of these themes were dealt with eloquently on Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State, presenting the singer/multi-instrumentalist as a first-rate interpreter of the human condition, as well as a gifted musician. The 12 tracks on Swans yield the same bounty, but with a leaner arsenal, due to Stevens sparse arrangements and production from Danielson Famile mastermind Daniel Smith. Fellow Famile members Elin, Megan, David, and Andrew -- who also appeared on The Great Lakes State -- lend their vocal and percussion talents to the mix, resulting in a surreal campfire environment thats part confessional and part processional. Beginning with the gorgeously titled "All the Trees in the Field Will Clap Their Hands," Stevens saunters out of the gate with nary an overdub to be heard, letting the banjo lead the parade, slowly picking up piano, percussion, and the angelic voices of Megan and Elin before disappearing over the hilltop. He channels Bert Jansch on the love song "The Dress Looks Nice on You" and Eric Matthews on "To Be Alone With You," striking a winning balance of 60s British folk and indie Americana. Like the Violent Femmes seminal pseudo-Christian masterpiece, Hallowed Ground, Seven Swans treats religion with simplicity and sincerity, approaching the subject with an almost feverish peacefulness. "Abraham," "We Wont Need Legs to Stand," and "He Woke Me Up Again," with its fiery, overdriven organ, are all effective tomes of the singers faith, but that faith can be tested. Stevens is quite aware of the dark, and no more so than on the Flannery OConnor-inspired "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," a first-person murder narrative that reveals a subtle current of menace only hinted at in the earlier portion of the record. Like faith, these songs require patience, as their almost mantra-like arcs take their time to fully form. By the time he reaches the spirited closer, "Transfiguration," an affirming take on the Gospels that reaches an almost Polyphonic Spree crescendo, the listener has no choice but to conform -- if only for the length of the record -- to the writers unabashed spirituality, and at just under 45 minutes, its an easy choice to make. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 17 Title: Illinois Released: 2005-07-04 Tracks: 22 Duration: 1:14:13 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois (02:08) 2 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!” (02:14) 3 Come On! Feel the Illinoise! Part I: The World’s Columbian Exposition, Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream (06:45) 4 John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (03:19) 5 Jacksonville (05:24) 6 A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, but for Very Good Reasons (00:47) 7 Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother! (03:03) 8 One Last “Whoo‐Hoo!” for the Pullman (00:06) 9 Chicago (06:04) 10 Casimir Pulaski Day (05:53) 11 To the Workers of the Rockford River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament (01:40) 12 The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts (06:17) 13 Prairie Fire That Wanders About (02:11) 14 A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze (00:19) 15 The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! (05:23) 16 They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhh! (05:09) 17 Let’s Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don’t Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bushnell (00:40) 18 In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth (00:35) 19 The Seer’s Tower (03:53) 20 The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders, Part I: The Great Frontier, Part II: Come to Me Only With Playthings Now (07:02) 21 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 (00:46) 22 Out of Egypt, Into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt From My Sandals as I Run (04:21) |
| Illinois : Allmusic album Review : With two states down and only 48 to go, Sufjan Stevens ambitious musical map of the Unites States of America should be completed -- if he puts out one a year -- sometime around 2053. Its a daunting task (and not an entirely original one at that), but if each subsequent record is as good as Illinois, fans who live long enough to witness the projects completion will no doubt find themselves to be scholars of both state history and its narrators shape-shifting soul. Stevens folk epics, as played by his signature mini-orchestra, have changed little since his 2003 foray into Michigan -- a charge that may cause some grumbling among that albums detractors -- but theres a newfound optimism that runs through much of Illinois that echoes the states "Gateway to the West" pioneering spirit. Glorious road trip-ready cuts like "The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts," "Come On! Feel the Illinoise!," and "Chicago" have an expansiveness that radiates with the ballast of history and the promise of new beginnings. Stevens has done his research, with references to everyone from Abe Lincoln, Frank Lloyd Wright, and the ghost of Carl Sandburg to John Wayne Gacy -- the latter provides one the song cycles most affecting moments. The lush (yet still distinctly lo-fi) indie pop melodies draw as much from classic rock as they do progressive folk. "Jacksonville," with its four-chord banjo lurch, mines "Old Man"-era Neil Young, disco strings dance around "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!," while the rousing pre-finale "The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders" is pure Peanuts-infused Vince Guaraldi as filtered through the ambiguous kaleidoscope of Danielson Famile spiritualism. Theres a distinct community theater vibe to the whole affair that may or may not be the result of numerous photo shoots in which the players are dressed in adult-style Boy Scout uniforms -- it brings to mind the Blaine Players from Christopher Guests small-town theater parody Waiting for Guffman -- but the majority of Illinois is alarmingly earnest. Stevens may be a snake-oil salesman, but hes got pretty good stuff, and like many of historys most untrustworthy wordsmiths, he somehow manages to switch the opportunist off and turn on the human being each time the listener gets suspicious of his intentions. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 17 Title: The Avalanche Released: 2006-07-10 Tracks: 21 Duration: 1:15:54 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Avalanche (03:14) 2 Dear Mr. Supercomputer (04:20) 3 Adlai Stevenson (02:34) 4 The Vivian Girls Are Visited in the Night by Saint Dargarius and His Squadron of Benevolent Butterflies (01:49) 5 Chicago (04:40) 6 The Henney Buggy Band (03:16) 7 Saul Bellow (02:53) 8 Carlyle Lake (03:15) 9 Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in His Hair (04:17) 10 The Mistress Witch From McClure (or, The Mind That Knows Itself) (03:24) 11 Kaskaskia River (02:15) 1 Chicago (Adult Contemporary Easy Listening version) (06:06) 2 Inaugural Pop Music for Jane Margaret Byrne (01:25) 3 No Mans Land (04:45) 4 The Palm Sunday Tornado Hits Crystal Lake (01:38) 5 The Pick-Up (03:23) 6 The Perpetual Self, or "What Would Saul Alinsky Do?" (02:24) 7 For Clyde Tombaugh (03:43) 8 Chicago (Multiple Personality Disorder version) (04:35) 9 Pittsfield (06:51) 10 The Undivided Self (For Eppie and Popo) (04:58) |
| The Avalanche : Allmusic album Review : Sufjan Stevens Come on Feel the Illinoise was a long, gorgeous, and occasionally convoluted kaleidoscope of folk, pop, and orchestral rock fused with personal regional history that somehow managed to lure listeners of all ages and genre allegiances into its pompon-wielding arms. Like Illinois, The Avalanche -- leave it to Stevens to release a 21-track collection of outtakes and extras from a record that boasted 22 -- is stuffed with a surplus of unnecessary and pretentiously titled instrumental Band-Aids like "Vivian Girls Are Visited in the Night by Saint Dargarius and His Squadron of Benelovent Butterflies," "The Mistress Witch from McClure (Or, the Mind That Knows Itself)," and "The Palm Sunday Tornado Hits Crystal Lake" that would serve more purpose on an early-70s Yes album than they do here, but theyre augmented by some truly noteworthy songs that prove Stevens prolificacy is as much a byproduct of his obvious gifts as a writer as it is by his need to record every idea that pops into his head. Opening with the title cut, a loose, banjo-driven ballad that develops into a pulsing day drive from the East Coast to the Midwest (The Avalanche is named for a car, not the terrifying mass of ice, snow, earth, and rock that swallows numerous skiers each year), Stevens constructed an alternate version of Illinois that is almost as good as the original. Shades of Stereolab pepper both the manic "Dear Mr. Supercomputer" and the nostalgic "Adlai Stevenson," while the elegiac "No Mans Land" echoes the sense of discovery that fueled Illinois "Chicago," the latter of which appears three times in various disguises throughout the record. The Avalanche slows down considerably near the records end, but so did Illinois, making an even better case for the "Super Directors Cut" that would fuse both albums into one mammoth slice of esoteric Americana pie. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 17 Title: Songs for Christmas Released: 2006-10-18 Tracks: 42 Duration: 2:03:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Silent Night (00:44) 2 O Come O Come Emmanuel (04:00) 3 We’re Goin’ to the Country! (02:17) 4 Lo! How a Rose E’er Blooming (03:22) 5 It’s Christmas! Let’s Be Glad! (01:55) 6 Holy Holy, Etc. (00:41) 7 Amazing Grace (04:09) 1 Angels We Have Heard on High (00:45) 2 Put the Lights on the Tree (01:48) 3 Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (04:43) 4 I Saw Three Ships (02:34) 5 Only at Christmas Time (02:14) 6 Once in Royal David’s City (03:40) 7 Hark! The Herald Angels Sing! (00:45) 8 What Child Is This Anyway? (06:47) 9 Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella (01:39) 1 O Come O Come Emmanuel (01:03) 2 Come On! Let’s Boogey to the Elf Dance! (03:49) 3 We Three Kings (02:58) 4 O Holy Night (04:04) 5 That Was the Worst Christmas Ever! (03:18) 6 Ding! Dong! (00:55) 7 All the King’s Horns (02:59) 8 The Friendly Beasts (03:42) 1 The Little Drummer Boy (03:43) 2 Away in a Manger (02:54) 3 Hey Guys! It’s Christmas Time! (04:41) 4 The First Noel (00:52) 5 Did I Make You Cry on Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved It!) (03:21) 6 The Incarnation (02:23) 7 Joy to the World (04:20) 1 Once in Royal David’s City (02:01) 2 Get Behind Me, Santa! (03:49) 3 Jingle Bells (00:36) 4 Christmas in July (03:16) 5 Lo! How a Rose E’er Blooming (01:45) 6 Jupiter Winter (03:50) 7 Sister Winter (05:04) 8 O Come O Come Emmanuel (01:06) 9 Star of Wonder (07:07) 10 Holy, Holy, Holy (03:50) 11 The Winter Solstice (03:22) |
 | Album: 8 of 17 Title: Astral Inter Planet Space Captain Christmas Infinity Voyage: Songs for Christmas, Volume 8 Released: 2008-12 Tracks: 7 Duration: 38:52 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Angels We Have Heard on High (05:00) 2 Do You See What I See? (04:58) 3 It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (00:47) 4 Christmas in the Room (04:49) 5 Good King Wenceslas (02:15) 6 Joy to the World (07:49) 7 The Child With the Star on His Head (13:14) |
 | Album: 9 of 17 Title: The BQE Released: 2009-10-19 Tracks: 13 Duration: 40:38 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Prelude on the Esplanade (02:58) 2 Introductory Fanfare for the Hooper Heroes (01:09) 3 Movement I: In the Countenance of Kings (05:21) 4 Movement II: Sleeping Invader (04:35) 5 Interlude I: Dream Sequence in Subi Circumnavigation (03:35) 6 Movement III: Linear Tableau With Intersecting Surprise (04:10) 7 Movement IV: Traffic Shock (03:25) 8 Movement V: Self-Organizing Emergent Patterns (03:46) 9 Interlude II: Subi Power Waltz (00:30) 10 Interlude III: Invisible Accidents (00:55) 11 Movement VI: Isorhythmic Night Dance With Interchanges (03:18) 12 Movement VII (Finale): The Emperor of Centrifuge (03:52) 13 Postlude: Critical Mass (02:58) |
| The BQE : Allmusic album Review : After successfully navigating his way into the mainstream with 2005s epic Illinoise, ultra-prolific indie pop prince Sufjan Stevens had no intention of laying low. Instead, he released a set of Illinoise outtakes, a five-disc collection of Christmas songs, and staged a "symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York Citys infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway" that included a self-made Super 8 mm film, a full orchestra, and a small army of hula hoopers performing live in front of a sold-out Brooklyn Academy of Music. While it could be argued that the ambitious BQE serves as the "New York" chapter in his abandoned 50 states project, it hardly fits in with the other two entries. Many pop musicians have ventured into the classical realm (David Byrne, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, Elvis Costello, to name a few), but Stevens had already been dabbling in strings, woodwinds, and horns quite admirably since his lo-fi 2000 debut. Closer to the Godfrey Reggio/Philip Glass collaboration Koyaanisqatsi than it is to Byrnes The Forest, fans of the liberal, staccato woodwinds that peppered Illinoise will find much of the BQE familiar. As always, Stevens melodies are circular, occasionally precious, and often dissonant, but they are presented here with a maturity that will no doubt turn more than a few heads in the classical community, while simultaneously turning some away in the indie pop world. The package itself is truly impressive, boasting a highly stylized Japanese pop art-inspired jacket, a 40-page booklet, a stereoscopic 3D View-Master reel and a DVD of the Super 8 mm film that accompanied the performance. As lyrical a musician as he is, without his commanding use of language (the song cycle is entirely instrumental), the BQE loses some momentum near the end, but by then its become clear that, as is the case with all of his projects, the term "half-assed" does not apply. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 17 Title: All Delighted People EP Released: 2010-08-20 Tracks: 8 Duration: 59:18 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 All Delighted People (original version) (11:38) 2 Enchanting Ghost (03:39) 3 Heirloom (02:55) 4 From the Mouth of Gabriel (04:03) 5 The Owl and the Tanager (06:38) 6 All Delighted People (Classic Rock version) (08:07) 7 Arnika (05:13) 8 Djohariah (17:02) |
 | Album: 11 of 17 Title: The Age of Adz Released: 2010-10-11 Tracks: 11 Duration: 1:14:48 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Futile Devices (02:11) 2 Too Much (06:43) 3 Age of Adz (07:59) 4 I Walked (05:00) 5 Now That I’m Older (04:55) 6 Get Real Get Right (05:10) 7 Bad Communication (02:24) 8 Vesuvius (05:26) 9 All for Myself (02:55) 10 I Want to Be Well (06:26) 11 Impossible Soul (25:34) |
| The Age of Adz : Allmusic album Review : Sufjan Stevens official follow-up to 2005s critically acclaimed Illinoise puts to rest the conceptual trappings that have dominated his work thus far. Taking a cue from 2009s Koyaanisqatsi-inspired BQE, The Age of Adz is a schizophrenic album: a subject-spanning, electro-orchestral collection of original pop songs which feels like more like an exorcism than it does a simple evolution of Stevens songwriting. The literate, collegiate folk-pop that dominated his earlier work has been transformed by the self-admitted "existential crisis" that followed the success of Illinoise, and while there are elements of the past third-person intimacy on The Age of Adz, its Stevens himself who bears the weight of the world this time around, though its never revealed as to whether hes heartbroken, world-weary, or just raw from the unattainable expectations placed on him by many of his overly earnest fans. Loosely based on the work of troubled American Creole artist Royal Robertson, who specialized in apocalyptic visions of the future replete with aliens, utopian temples, and end-time prophesying, Age of Adz (pronounced "oddz"), with its glitch-filled, heavily processed barrage of late-90s electronica, feels cut from the same desolate cloth as Radioheads Kid A, or Björks chilly Vespertine, but where Kid A utilized restraint, The Age of Adz trumpets a near-constant cacophony. Opener "Futile Devices" eases the listener into this new world with the familiar sound of a gently fingerpicked electric guitar, and as Stevens pitch-perfect, heavily delayed vocals reassure his subject that "I do love you," it almost seems like old times. That dreamy setup is revealed as a red herring just seconds into the epic "Too Much," as tree trunk-sized synth bursts and staccato drum machine blips flip the switch on and unleash the The Age of Adz most accomplished cog. "Too Much," along with the gorgeous "All for Myself" and the propulsive "I Want to Be Well," are stand-outs not just because of their formidable intricacies (the title cut owns that honor), but because they operate on an emotional level that some of the other tracks fail to convey -- as lovely and naked as closer "Impossible Soul" is, it could have been 20 minutes shorter. Stevens talents as a musician are indisputable, but its refreshing to hear him so candid, even if that forthrightness is festooned by enough bells and whistles to wake the dead. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 17 Title: Silver & Gold Released: 2012-11-13 Tracks: 59 Duration: 2:47:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Silent Night (02:26) 2 Lumberjack Christmas / No One Can Save You From Christmases Past (03:22) 3 Coventry Carol (02:53) 4 The Midnight Clear (02:49) 5 Carol of St. Benjamin the Bearded One (03:32) 6 Go Nightly Cares (01:44) 7 Barcarola (You Must Be a Christmas Tree) (07:02) 8 Auld Lang Syne (01:34) 1 Christ the Lord Is Born (00:48) 2 Christmas Woman (05:33) 3 Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light (01:09) 4 Happy Family Christmas (01:22) 5 Jingle Bells (01:18) 6 Mysteries of the Christmas Mist (02:10) 7 Lift Up Your Heads Ye Mighty Gates (01:20) 8 We Wish You a Merry Christmas (01:16) 9 Ah Holy Jesus (02:41) 10 Behold! The Birth of Man, the Face of Glory (01:08) 11 Ding‐A‐Ling‐A‐Ring‐A‐Ling (01:49) 12 How Shall I Fitly Meet Thee? (02:09) 13 Mr. Frosty Man (01:49) 14 Make Haste to See the Baby (01:22) 15 Ah Holy Jesus (with reed organ) (01:28) 16 Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (01:50) 17 Morning (sacred harp) (02:27) 18 Idumea (sacred harp) (03:50) 19 Eternal Happiness or Woe (01:22) 20 Ah Holy Jesus (a cappella) (00:59) 21 I Am Santa’s Helper (01:51) 22 “Maoz Tzur” (Rock of Ages) (00:42) 23 Even the Earth Will Perish and the Universe Give Way (02:00) 1 Angels We Have Heard on High (04:03) 2 Do You Hear What I Hear? (09:14) 3 Christmas in the Room (04:22) 4 It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (00:47) 5 Good King Wenceslas (04:17) 6 Alphabet St. (01:36) 7 Particle Physics (01:04) 8 Joy to the World (05:24) 1 The Child With the Star on His Head (15:30) 2 Christmas Infinity Voyage (?) 1 I’ll Be Home for Christmas (03:22) 2 Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (02:40) 3 The Sleigh in the Moon (01:44) 4 Sleigh Ride (02:27) 5 Ave Maria (02:08) 6 X‐mas Spirit Catcher (03:31) 7 Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (02:17) 8 A Holly Jolly Christmas (02:26) 9 Christmas Face (00:39) 1 Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (03:41) 2 It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (00:39) 3 Up on the Housetop (04:21) 4 Angels We Have Heard on High (00:52) 5 We Need a Little Christmas (02:02) 6 Happy Karma Christmas (03:35) 7 We Three Kings (00:52) 8 Justice Delivers Its Death (03:15) 9 Christmas Unicorn (12:28) |
 | Album: 13 of 17 Title: Chopped & Scrooged Released: 2012-12-11 Tracks: 9 Duration: 33:37 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 The Child With the Star on His Head (04:13) 2 Dream Catcher (04:43) 3 Cool Like Jack (03:02) 4 Black Christmas (03:51) 5 Ding-a-ling-a-ring-a-ling (04:02) 6 Xmas in the Room (04:02) 7 Implants & Yankee Candles (03:13) 8 Blue Baktun (03:46) 9 Xmas Woes (02:41) |
 | Album: 14 of 17 Title: Carrie & Lowell Released: 2015-03-30 Tracks: 11 Duration: 41:16 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Death With Dignity (03:59) 2 Should Have Known Better (05:05) 3 All of Me Wants All of You (03:41) 4 Drawn to the Blood (03:16) 5 Eugene (02:26) 6 Fourth of July (04:41) 7 The Only Thing (03:14) 8 Carrie & Lowell (02:26) 9 John My Beloved (05:06) 10 No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross (02:38) 11 Blue Bucket of Gold (04:43) |
| Carrie & Lowell : Allmusic album Review : Nothing truly prepares anyone for the loss of a parent. No matter how aware one may be about the realities of disease and death, no matter what their attitude about their mother or father, experiencing the passing of the person who brought them into this world hits hard and deep, and the survivors are left to come to terms with their pain in their own ways. Sufjan Stevens is a songwriter and a musician, so it should come as no surprise that in the wake of the death of his mother Carrie in 2012, his grief took the form of a collection of songs. But 2015s Carrie & Lowell is not a simple homage to Stevens mother and stepfather. Stevens had a difficult relationship with his mother that would defy a simple farewell; she left his father when Stevens was just a year old, and she was a random presence throughout much of his childhood. While theres deep and genuine love in Carrie & Lowell, theres also uncertainty, sadness, and brief but jagged bursts of anger; these songs speak of loss and heartache and the difficult push and pull of familial relationships, but theyre also full of random memories, both pleasant and troubling, and they leap from reveries of family vacations faded by the passing of decades, to the immediate regrets of what was or wasnt said and done in the aftermath of death. Carrie & Lowell is about memory as much as mourning, and Stevens has drawn these songs in a purposefully elegant manner, with his introspection accompanied by beautiful but homespun melodies, and the arrangements and production only magnifying their dreamlike, whisper-quiet drift that strikes with an emotional force that a louder, more violent approach could not achieve. Carrie & Lowell is a heartfelt expression of love that is devoid of the slightest hint of sentimentality, and with these songs, Stevens strips his emotions bare and allows us all to be the audience for his anger, shame, and sense of loss as he pages through his memories of his family. Carrie & Lowell is the most harrowingly personal work Stevens has offered us to date; it also ranks with his most skillfully crafted albums despite its spartan approach, and its a sometimes difficult but profoundly moving work. Stevens has offered us some fine albums in the past, but hes never made anything quite like Carrie & Lowell. | ||
 | Album: 15 of 17 Title: Carrie & Lowell Live Released: 2017-04-28 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:28:39 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Redford (for Yia‐Yia and Pappou) (03:27) 2 Death With Dignity (04:06) 3 Should Have Known Better (06:04) 4 All of Me Wants All of You (06:29) 5 John My Beloved (05:49) 6 The Only Thing (05:41) 7 Fourth of July (06:41) 8 No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross (03:33) 9 Carrie & Lowell (04:38) 10 Drawn to the Blood (04:27) 11 Eugene (02:52) 12 Vesuvius (08:13) 13 Futile Devices (03:36) 14 Blue Bucket of Gold (05:35) 15 Blue Bucket (outro) (12:45) 16 Hotline Bling (encore) (04:43) |
 | Album: 16 of 17 Title: Planetarium Released: 2017-06-09 Tracks: 17 Duration: 1:16:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Neptune (03:04) 2 Jupiter (07:10) 3 Halley’s Comet (00:30) 4 Venus (04:42) 5 Uranus (06:51) 6 Mars (07:08) 7 Black Energy (05:25) 1 Sun (03:59) 2 Tides (00:58) 3 Moon (03:42) 4 Pluto (04:23) 5 Kuiper Belt (02:04) 6 Black Hole (00:33) 7 Saturn (03:51) 8 In the Beginning (01:17) 9 Earth (15:10) 10 Mercury (05:12) |
| Planetarium : Allmusic album Review : A project that began as a commissioned work by the Muziekgebouw Eindhoven for composer Nico Muhly, Planetarium premiered in 2012 but was transformed by the arrival of this collaborative recording five years later. With Muhly, singer/lyricist Sufjan Stevens, the National guitarist Bryce Dessner, and drummer James McAlister receiving equal credit for the music, it also features a string quartet, seven trombonists, a keyboardist, and numerous instrument credits, including synths and programming, by the co-composers. Inspired by the Solar System, Planetariums 17 tracks are named after celestial objects and related phenomena, with Stevens often enigmatic lyrics focusing on the subjects of science and Greek and Roman mythology. (Falling after touring for his album Carrie and Lowell, Stevens has said it was a relief to work on something that wasnt personal.) "Hurricane heart/Hurricane haste/Wandering star/Put in its place" describes the planet "Jupiter." Like much of Planetarium, the song has a melancholy tone reinforced by humming, occasionally glitchy electronics. Its steady rhythm drops out halfway through, and filtered vocals proclaim: "Sermon of death says Jupiter is the loneliest planet." Distorted drums, mechanical noise, and eventually trombones warp the track into something more epic and ominous. Each piece is a musical mini-drama, to varying degrees and at widely fluctuating lengths, with the glistening wash of "Halleys Comet" lasting about 30 seconds, and "Earth" getting the most attention at around 15 minutes. Keyboard instruments ranging from piano, organ, and celeste to Mellotron, Moog, and other synths blend with strings, Dessners lithe guitar, and Stevens airy vocal timbre for a thematically atmospheric, unearthly effect across pieces that also contain passages of explosive percussiveness and symphonic grandeur (all of the above can be found on "Mars"). "Saturn" even develops into a pulsing club-type entry ("Tell me Im evil/A Capricorn creature/A chemical addiction, first incision"). Its a sprawling effort with an over-70-minute running time, but also a haunting one, recommended for musically adventurous stargazers of all types. | ||
 | Album: 17 of 17 Title: The Greatest Gift Released: 2017-11-24 Tracks: 12 Duration: 48:26 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Wallowa Lake Monster (06:52) 2 Drawn to the Blood (Sufjan Stevens remix) (05:28) 3 Death With Dignity (Helado Negro remix) (04:08) 4 John My Beloved (iPhone demo) (04:17) 5 Drawn to the Blood (Fingerpicking remix) (02:01) 6 The Greatest Gift (01:51) 7 Exploding Whale (Doveman remix) (05:27) 8 All of Me Wants All of You (Helado Negro remix) (03:24) 9 Fourth of July (900X remix) (06:48) 10 The Hidden River of My Life (04:04) 11 City of Roses (02:14) 12 Carrie & Lowell (iPhone demo) (01:52) |
| The Greatest Gift : Allmusic album Review : Billed as a mixtape rather than a proper album, The Greatest Gift finds Sufjan Stevens taking a second look at the music and themes of his 2015 album Carrie & Lowell, a beautiful but sometimes harrowing and deeply personal examination of his relationship with his parents and the death of his mother. For The Greatest Gift, Stevens has given us four previously unreleased tracks that lyrically and stylistically are of a piece with the original album ("Wallowa Lake Monster," "City of Roses," "The Hidden River of My Life," and "The Greatest Gift"), an iPhone-recorded demo ("John My Beloved"), remixes of several other tracks, including two versions of "Drawn to the Blood," and "Exploding Whale," a non-LP single side. While the spare, stark approach of Carrie & Lowell would hardly seem to be traditional remix material, the reworked versions that appear here are executed with taste and skill. The ghostly distorted vocals hovering in the background on "Fourth of July [900X Remix]" are inspired, Helado Negros remix of "All of Me Wants All of You" gives the tune a stronger pulse but doesnt compromise its emotional force, and Stevens mix of "Drawn to the Blood" that reduces the backing to a fingerpicked mandolin cuts straight to the heart. Of the new tunes, the childhood memories of "Wallowa Lake Monster" and the spiritual contemplation of the title song connect beautifully, and if they arent quite up to the standards of the original album, theyre welcome additions to this appendix. The Greatest Gift works best as a companion piece to Carrie & Lowell, a variation that offers a different spin on its themes, but its also a powerful and absorbing work in its own right, and fans of Stevens work will appreciate it. | ||