Taken as a whole, the album sounds like a stage musical history of Illinois, sung with enthusiasm, and full of flourish and energy and a cast of characters that include the Blackhawk tribe, Abraham Lincoln, Al Capone, steelworkers and small-town heroes. Perhaps most surprisingly, considering its depths of knowledge and research, most of the album was recorded by Stevens in Queens, New York. But to its credit, Illinoise is always accessible, and never academic--if he can tackle such diverse topics within the course of just one album, then Stevens is just the musician to attempt the remaining 48 states. --Robert Burrow

Product Description
Like the self-proclaimed "Spiderman" who climbed Chicago’s Sears Tower with no harness, Sufjan Stevens scales dusty prairies, steel factories, and two hundred years of history to produce his newest album Illinois on Rough Trade. Invoking the muse of poet Carl Sandburg (and the musical flourishes of Rodgers and Hammerstein), Illinois ushers in trumpets on parade, string quartets, female choruses and ambient piano scales arranged around Stevens’ emerging falsetto. Whereas 2003’s Michigan (the inaugural album of "The 50 States" project) was rooted in memory, and 2004’s Seven Swans was rooted in the spirit, Illinois is rooted in "the world, in society, invention, civilization, in disease, in death, in education, in business," says Stevens. And unlike Seven Swans, Stevens surmounted the heights of Illinois solo, employing guest musicians but recording, engineering, and producing the album entirely on his own (mostly at the Buddy Project in Queens, New York).