Illinoise

Not many albums show the influence of Steve Reich, Love, The Beatles and Paul Simon. Even fewer have, in addition, crazily self-mocking album titles and a comic-book cover. Add to that mix the rehabilitation of the banjo, and you're down to one album. This is a melodic, joyous and eclectic piece of work. Verges on whimsy in a faintly Belle-and-Sebastien way at times, but doesn't quite fall over the edge into syrup. Even chord sequences and fingerpicking patterns you've heard 101 times before (Casimir Pulaski Day) are lifted by real emotion and heart-on-sleeve lyrics ; this one sounds hearfelt and oddly moving, recapturing childhood innocence in a way which could so easily go into pure mush. Risky, but wonderful.

One previous review which baffled me was the one which said there was a shortage of melodies... another, more positive one says it's 'worth the effort'. No effort required ; it's packed with melodies, and they hit the spot from the very first play. Another review quite rightly mentions the rhythmic drive and inventiveness of some tracks ; try 'The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders' for a punchy rhythm which avoids rockist clichés. There's an engaging amateur-hour feel to some of the vocals and backing vocals, which is not to say they're out of tune, just that they sound and feel like real human voices, not massively treated and studio-enhanced ones.

there is so much that can be said about sufjan's latest cd, come on feel the illinoise, but i'll cut to the chase - it is absolutely stunning. for anyone who likes any of his music this cd is a must. it follows the same strain as michigan, not seven swans(or a sun came for that matter), and is in my opinion his best work to date. every song has a vast variety of unorthadox instruments in a way that every song gains from every one of them. like michigan, each song has a long witty name, sometimes to the ridiculus stage. there are 22 tracks, a few of which are fillers (clapping, some string sections etc) but the actual songs are utterly amazing.
there are more than 90% stand out tracks (in my opinion anyway) but my personal favourites are *Come On! Feel The Illinoise!: Parts I & II ( this sounds very much like someting on michigan, but even better!), Jackson, Chicago, Casimir Pulaski Day (my personal favourite off this album), The Man Of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts (heavy electric start - gloriusly soft ballad), The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us, The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders. There are several more but they have such long winded names.
This cd is currently all i can play in my cd player, it is unique and beautiful. I recommend it to everyone and anyone who likes good music.

P.S I am going to see him in concert in 2 days! woo

Quite simply Sufjan Stevens is a God like genius but it took me a while to realise it. I got hold of Illinoise in August 2005 after hearing `Chicago' on the Mark Radcliffe late night BBC Radio 2 show.

Got to be honest I found it hard going in places at the start. It reminded me a bit of Genesis' Lamb Lies Down and Camel's The Snow Goose. Not necessarily flattering comparisons if your view of `prog rock' diminished after the punk wars, as mine did. How wrong I was.

I don't know what it was but something kept dragging me back to it. And maybe after a full six months it slowly began to dawn on me that it was a masterpiece in every sense. After a year I rated it as my all time favourite album and three years after that it still is. And I've had quite a few favourite albums over the years.

After a beautiful opening with (I'll have to abbreviate some of these titles!) the simple piano refrain and vocals of Concerning the UFO Sighting... it goes epic with The Black Hawk War. The two tracks together remind me of how many great novels and films start. You get a taster of the main event. Then it's back to the beginning where it all began. Bit pretentious I know but I can't put it any other way than that.

Then we're off. I won't mention all the tracks but John Wayne Gacy Jr is the best examination of the life of a serial killer and the parallels it may have with your own story, ever put to music. A niche market I suspect. Chicago is majestic and epic and clearly something Saint Sufjan must have considered his best work to date at the time (hence the variations available on sister album Avalanche). You can hear a smidgen of it on Little Miss Sunshine as they scramble to get on the VW at one point.

The `genius' clincher for me was getting into the lyrics of `Casimir Pulaski Day'. Quite simply, it's the most joyfully sad song I've ever heard. Obviously it's only my interpretation but rather than write something obvious and sentimental, he chose to give us almost unconnected treasured memories of someone who he loved and who has passed away from `cancer of the bone'. He doesn't invite you in and there's no narrative to make it easy but somehow that makes it even more poignant to me. I find it so painfully beautiful I have almost blubbed a few times listening to it. I'm not prone to sentimentality myself but if you have ever lost someone it's just such a beautiful way of remembering them. And then, in the very last line, he even manages to question his own faith in God. If anyone has any inside knowledge on the song that casts doubt on my interpretation please don't tell me! I'm happy in my ignorance and the song `belongs' to me in this way now.

It's probably his most multi-paced album. The Man of Metropolis starts almost like a sub-metal romp before settling down into more lo-fi verses interspersed with the same terrific rock guitar backed harmonised chorus. And there are many minor musical noodles and diversions along the way that may leave you a bit baffled at first but make complete sense if you believe like me that this album has a narrative running through it. Great use of brass and strings all the way through although his greatest achievement (begun on earlier albums) is perhaps the rehabilitation of the banjo (e.g. on Decatur).

The album concludes with another epic in The Tallest Man. No lyrics; just a build up of strings and percussion (if a xylophone is percussion) and err.. other stuff. Sounds like something for the closing credits of a great film.

Four years down the road I still play Illinoise at least once a week. I've never had that relationship with an album before. And I've got his whole back catalogue now of course. `Michigan' is a triumph but not quite on the same scale. `Seven Swans' is even more stripped down and introspective but the songs are lovely and get better with each listen. There's some great original material on his Christmas albums too as well as the covers. And 'The Avalanche', the 'Illinoise' sister album is supposedly outtakes? No it should have been a double album. This man provides real `growers' with his albums and those are the best kind. Even `Enjoy Your Rabbit' has its plus points. At least it's an attempt to do something different and confounds his 'lo-fi' status.

My only criticism? It's four years old. Even the Stone Roses didn't take this long for new material (I don't count the multitude of collaborations with others as `new'). Get a move on man. I gather his commitment to produce an album for every one of the US states was meant to be taken with a pinch of salt. Just as well as, alphabetically, he'd be dead by the time he got through the states beginning with `A' alone.