Sufjan Stevens, Part 1
Photographer: Joe Lencioni
NAME: Sufjan Stevens
GENRE: Indie / Folk
SOUNDS LIKE: Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst, Andrew Bird
The Sufjan Behemoth: a Retrospective
There’s excitement in the air for Sufjan Stevens fans! Stevens and Co.'s upcoming project Planetarium is approaching its long-awaited studio release, yet there are inevitable detractors to its seemingly unique, experimentally poppy and unconventional style of sound. Concerns over Stevens’ new sound are valid; I certainly have some apprehension about the strangeness of Planetarium myself. But we must be reminded, in times of anxiety, to go back to father Stevens' glittering history of successful shifts in sound. In this piece, we will look at Stevens' long history of musical experimentation (and consistent success).
A Sun Came! (2000)
A Sun Came! is, in certain senses, the most "Sufjan" album of his entire discography. The first track, “We Are What You Say”, immediately presents unorthodox instrumentation (flutes, horns and banjos) and abstract, spiritual lyricism: “We have no language/We have no chore/The side of a beehive/The bride is a whore”. The first track alone feels distinctly familiar for anyone engrossed in the rest of his discography, even to first-time listeners. "Happy Birthday" and "A Sun Came" are early examples of the beautiful, minimalist folk that Stevens later refined and specialized in. "Jason" and "Joy! Joy! Joy!", meanwhile, overlap with his electronically experimental album, Age of Adz. "A Winner Needs a Wand", "Dumb I Sound", and "Demetrius" also have clear similarities to the dark yet whimsical baroque pop of Illinois and Michigan.
A Sun Came! certainly stands out on its own as an interesting, experimental first studio album. But to me, the true appeal of the album is how it seems to outline Stevens’ later career. The quirks and intricacies of what make Stevens’ music so remarkable are visible here, albeit in prototype form.
(Must listens: “Dumb I Sound”, “Rake”)
Enjoy Your Rabbit (2001)
“There is an undisclosed narrative waiting to be transcribed internally, subjectively. Music is hardly a static, isolated discipline. It’s an incredibly coercive, symbolic form of communication that can stimulate words and visions.” - Sufjan Stevens, 2002
Enjoy Your Rabbit is, indisputably, the album that diverges most from Stevens’ habitual musical style. Lacking almost entirely in vocals, the album is instead composed of electronic noise, sometimes melodic and sometimes not. I won't go into too much detail about the album, because it's hard to read too far into such an abstract project; even so, there's definitely visible groundwork for the noisy and chaotic Age of Adz, which came out later in 2010, in tracks like the static-infused "Year of the Monkey", with its surreal, cryptic whispers and crazy sound. There are also hints of the more ambient and whimsical All Delighted People, which came out later in 2010 as well, in tracks like "Year of Our Lord", which combines ambience and grandiose electronic sound in a borderline spiritual composition. Enjoy Your Rabbit may appeal only to fans of avant-garde music, and superfans of Stevens, but it's easy to see how the album fits within the greater discography.
(Must listens: Honestly, other albums.)
Michigan (2003)
“I think that's what a lot of the Michigan record is about, this kind of internal and emotional tension between living and being in a place and then leaving it and looking back and having a different kind of experience with the memories of that place.” - Sufjan Stevens, 2005
Michigan was Stevens’ first substantial critical and commercial success. It set the stage for what could have been a long and prolific career dabbling and experimenting exclusively within the (vast) constraints of folksy, rockish sound. Michigan, named after the state Stevens grew up in, feels inseparable from his identity as both a person and a musician. Having grown up in Detroit, Stevens has a direct connection to the locations named and discussed in the album, which is shown in how fiercely personal the lyrics are on tracks like “Romulus” and “Holland”.
Michigan stays within the confines of the folk/rock genre on the album, but I don’t think that implies a lack of musical diversity: Michigan features unconventional folk songs like "Oh Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)”, a grand, multi-phase, 8-minute pop-ish track that employs bells, organ, trumpets, and more instruments than my feeble ears can discern, and slower and more sentimental tracks like “Romulus”, which chronicles the tumult and tragedy of Stevens’ childhood with an absent mother (a topic which was drastically expanded upon in his 2015 release, Carrie and Lowell).
One of Stevens’ most popular tracks is "For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti". It embraces scarce instrumentation and features Stevens' wispy voice to present a beautifully gentle track. This track, which is filled with religious undertones, seems like a clear predecessor to Seven Swans, an album that embraces religious themes and instrumental sparseness. Overall, Michigan highlights much of Sufjan’s appeal, alternating between the introspective and intimate, and the grandiose.
(Must listens: “Romulus”, “Vito’s Ordination Song”)
Seven Swans (2004)
“I’m just singing through conviction about what I love and what I care about, starting with the very small.” -Sufjan Stevens, 2004
In relation to Michigan, Stevens' second album Seven Swans feels like only a small step forward musically. Especially in terms of the instrumentation itself, this idea holds some truth: Stevens stayed mostly within the boundaries of standard folk instrumentation (though this ignores a few tracks like “The Transfiguration”, which features interesting horn and bell arrangements). It is important to acknowledge, however, that one step forward. It lies in Stevens’ lyricism and exploration of his own Christianity in a solemn, brooding tone. While Michigan explores a variety of themes, Seven Swans masters a sparser, quieter sound associated with more difficult and tragic subjects.
Seven Swans feels like a true testament to Stevens' relationship with Christianity. Tracks like “In the Devil's Territory” combine strangely apocalyptic lyrics with an uplifting melody, illustrating Sufjan’s mixed feelings towards the religion, while ones like “Seven Swans” unwaveringly approach the grand and terrifying concept of an all-knowing, all-powerful God, singing "He will take you. If you run,/He will chase you./Cause he is the Lord.” Stevens takes a unique approach to his Christian music, preaching about both the existential horror and the joy arising from a belief in an omnipotent god. Stevens beautifully and minimally expresses his own awe, fear, and hope throughout the album. Ultimately, Seven Swans is yet another meaningful step in Stevens' development and diversification of sound leading up to Illinoise.
(Must listens: “Seven Swans”)
Illinois (2005)
“I had to somehow monitor everything with kind of a sense of self-discovery and conviction, and an emotional landscape within me, personally. That was the overall goal of the record. It was kind of ambitious from the start, because I knew I wanted it to be really big and on a grand scale. I wanted it to be almost like a movie soundtrack, but without the movie.” - Sufjan Stevens, 2005
Illinois remains Stevens' best-known and most critically acclaimed album. The album covers a lot of ground: "John Wayne Gacy Jr." is haunting and riveting as it describes the infamous serial killer in a strangely sympathetic light. "Jacksonville" feels aloof and cool as it discusses history and culture, and "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get us!" resounds with pure whimsy and youthful joy. The album is Stevens realized, the moment where he finds his stride with a mastery of both minimalism and lush musical styles.
The influences of his previous albums are palpable within Illinois. Including the clear parallels it shares with Michigan (both albums are a part of the decommissioned fifty states project), it also draws heavily from Stevens’ other work. The grandiose baroque pop of "Come on and Feel the Illinoise" has evident similarities with Stevens' work on Michigan, with sparser, more tragic acoustic tracks like "Casimir Pulaski Day" and "John Wayne Gacy Jr.", striking similarities with both the downtrodden portrayals of "Flint" and "Detroit" found on Michigan and the spiritual acoustics of Seven Swans. The discord and dejection of "The Seer's Tower" has resemblances to the distorted theme of Stevens' early work on A Sun Came! as well, especially "Rake".
Illinois feels like the culmination of years of refinement and improvement of Stevens' distinctive sound. The album moves fluidly despite its massive tone shifts: The shift from the tragic, acoustic tale of childhood cancer in “Casmir Pulaski Day” to an uplifting rock ode to Superman in “The Man of Metropolis Steals our Hearts” is drastic yet smooth. The instrumental interludes and moments of peace scattered throughout the album beautifully shift scenes and add much-needed space between the oft-tense tracks. In fact, unlike many of Stevens' other albums, it’s important to at least try to listen to the album as a cohesive whole. The album, put simply, is an indie classic, and serves as the finest introduction to Sufjan’s various styles out there.
(Must Listens: The whole album)