First of all, if you haven’t heard of Sufjan Stevens by now, you should go to the store and buy his album “Illinoise” right now. I was first introduced to him by my friend Chase who seems to know all of the great musicians at all times. He knows about them before they even release an album it seems like. I honestly think it is a conspiracy or something, he’s definitely got connections in high places. Back to Sufjan. His music is in one word, “brilliant.” It is so incredibly different from any music that I have ever heard yet it is still very enjoyable to listen to. There is a lot of music that is different and just plain weird, but his music is different…and it works. Musically, it is gorgeous, with powerful melodies and subtle nuances that stream throughout the entire album. The melodies are powerful enough to be recalled without the music, yet they are not as annoying as pop music melodies that simply drone on and on.

I recently bought his new album on iTunes, “The Avalanche” which is actually the outtakes from his Illinoise album. These outtakes are just as good or better than the original album. Unbelievable!! I mean seriously, this guy has so much music inside of him it’s ridiculous. He has made as much music in 2 or 3 years as some artists make throughout their entire life. I wish I could be this prolific with my photography.
I especially like the acoustic version of “Chicago,” which offers a different interpretation of the song. Another standout is “Pittsfield.

While his music was accompanied largely with critical acclaim, Sufjan has been receiving some bad press lately. AMG music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine blasts Sufjan in “The Case Against Sufjan.” Erlewine writes:

“His pretension — his convoluted song titles, his cloying song about Saul Bellow, his adolescent fascination with John Wayne Gacy, Jr. — all comes across like a precocious high school student in his senior year, where he’s smug enough to want to prove that he’s smarter than the rest of the school. Appropriately, his lyrics often read like the work of a gifted but sheltered high schooler, and his music sounds like a drama student’s idea of a pop opera.”

I don’t think that Sufjan’s music would have had quite the appeal if his music was as sophomoric as Erlewine describes. He has opened up a completely new genre of music for me personally, and his lyrics are very intriguing and thoughtful. They are so honest and simple at many times that you seem to listen to him as a person, like he is in the room telling a story. He takes you back to moments in his life with his songs and lets you glimpse into his past. Most musicians are not very transparent, but Sufjan’s honesty creates a believable and understandable humanity. Whatever the criticism may be, Sufjan has impressed me, and I’m looking forward to the next releases. Hopefully he can continue to innovate as he has done in the past.