Sufjan Stevens
Illinois
Asthmatic Kitty/Sounds Familyre
We listen to songs on shuffle on portable mp3 devices and buy single tracks from downloadable
music retailers, so songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens' latest release, Illinois,
might seem ill timed. Illinois is the second album in Stevens'
"50 States"
project, wherein he writes an entire album singing, literally, in a folk-pop opera of sorts,
a state's praises.
(Michigan was the first subject.)
Timing and fragmented listening habits aside, a concept such as this is subject to scrutiny.
A whole album devoted to anything and everything about a single state, let alone a single anything?
Similar ideas have been known to be too clever, gimmicky or, heaven forbid, precious (thus dismissive),
so the potential for a disappointing outcome is high. Couple that with punny or ridiculously long song
titles (some longer than the actual song; "To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning
Your Predicament, and It Involves an Inner Tube, Bath Mats, and 21 Able-bodied Men" for one),
and listeners can be quite put off before the first chords even begin. Greetings from Michigan (2003),
though, garnered a steady following that will grow larger yet with this 22-part ode to the Land of Lincoln.
To thwart the easy pitfalls of the daunting concept, Stevens aims high, eschewing Prairie State
quips for more state-specific and unique features, including Casimir Pulaski Day (celebrating the Polish
Revolutionary War hero) and Mary Todd Lincoln (instead of her more famous spouse). Subjects peak to the unusual
with "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." On this tinkering piano-driven track named for the
Chicago serial killer,
the melody strides, like wide Midwestern streets, both full and sparse, beneath Stevens' fitting wisp of a
voice that cracks, "Twenty-seven people, even more/ They were boys with their cars, summer jobs/ Oh my God/
Are you one of them?"
Other tracks, like "Come on! Feel the Illinoise!, Pt. I: The World's Columbian Exposition/ Pt. II: Carl Sandburg
Visits Me in a Dream" and the simply named "Chicago," boast full orchestras and subjects far less macabre. Halfway
through the album, "Chicago" teeters in before bursting into song with strings and keyboard that drop out for
Stevens to sing, without backing, "I fell in love again/ all things go, all things go." The song, strategically
grandiose and understated, perfectly highlights Stevens' success with the entire album.
He can be superbly boisterous,
as on the first part of the "Peanuts"-reminiscent "Come On! Feel the Illinoise!, etc.," elevated by horns and supporting
vocals. He can be outlandishly charming, as on "Decatur, or Round of Applause for Your Step-Mother!," which showcases
Stevens' rhyming prowess (hate her, alligator, aviator, emancipator). More than anything, he can be
ceaselessly beautiful, as on the folksy opener, "Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois." Take away the
album's conceit, and Stevens' artful songwriting — and voice — still remain.
This is why Illinois works. The intention as a whole may not
remain intact after the album's 22 tracks are downloaded or imported, shuffled or recorded onto mixes,
but the music, for the most part, will. And on the whole, Illinois yields complete and stately parts.
— Lavina Lee (lavina at flakmag dot com)
