Post by lildevil92 on Oct 13, 2007 9:16:50 GMT -5
Artist: Sufjan Steven
Year of Release: 2005
Genre(s): Indie Pop, Chamber Pop, Baroque Pop
Also known as: "Illinoise" or "Come on: Feel the Illinoise!"
The album as a whole is lush and a little strange. Musically, it is challenging and expansive just as the song titles are. The lush music is matched remarkably well with Stevens' intimate, practically quivering vocals. Not every song on the album are arranged with such expansive orchestration, there are some lovely songs that are simply arranged.
Less personal than both "Seven Swans" and "Michigan", Stevens threw himself into research and it is evident in the details of the lyrics. "Come on! Feel the Illinoise!" is bouncy and optimistic and leads into a dreamy musing on Carl Sandburg. A banjo leads in the bubbly "Decatur" while Stevens and Matt Morgan rhyme Decatur with alligator, Aviator and best of all: "Stephen A. Douglas was a great debater but/ Abraham Lincoln was the Great Emancipator!"
A song that probably gets the most notice is "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." The song is a swirl of guitars and piano and traces the life of John Wayne Gacy, Jr. The song is specific enough to mention how Gacy hit his head on a swing which resulted in a blackout-inducing blood clot in his brain. This is a song that shows Stevens strength as a writer, the song is in first person but it shifts perspectives and he prods Gacy's parents, the neighbors, his victims and the narrator himself.
One of the best songs on the album is "Casimir Pulaski Day." Named after an Illinois state holiday honoring the victor of the Battle of Brandywine (yeah, I didn't know that either), the song is an incredibly tender and heartbreaking story of a late winter death. Stevens' vocals are hushed with tender harmonies by Shara Worden. The lyrics are specific and it's the specifics that make the song so heartbreaking, the subject matter is dealt with such care and delicacy and the musical arrangement is matched perfectly to the lyrics. Through the song, harmonies are layered over the simple guitar chords, Stevens' vocals, Worden's harmonies, a banjo and finally a trumpet. It's a song that evokes powerful emotions.
Like "Michigan", "Illinois" is not for the impatient. It clocks in at 74-minutes with 21 tracks, many of them are orchestral interludes. It takes a lot of wading to get to the gems scattered about and with Stevens' delicate, precise lyrics, this isn't just background music, but it does reward those who stick to it with lovely, complex arrangements.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Track Listing:
1. Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
2. The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience, But You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, "I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!"
3. Come On! Feel the Illinoise! Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition / Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream
4. John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
5. Jacksonville
6. A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But for Very Good Reasons
7. Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!
8. One Last "Whoo-Hoo!" for the Pullman
9. Chicago
10. Casimir Pulaski Day
11. To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament
12. The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
13. Prairie Fire That Wanders About
14. A Conjuction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze
15. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!
16. They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbours!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!
17. Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bushnell
18. In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth
19. The Seer's Tower
20. The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders, Part I: The Great Frontier / Part II: Come to Me Only With Playthings Now
21. Riffs & Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds and The King of Swing, to Name a Few
22. Out of Egypt, Into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run
Year of Release: 2005
Genre(s): Indie Pop, Chamber Pop, Baroque Pop
Also known as: "Illinoise" or "Come on: Feel the Illinoise!"
The album as a whole is lush and a little strange. Musically, it is challenging and expansive just as the song titles are. The lush music is matched remarkably well with Stevens' intimate, practically quivering vocals. Not every song on the album are arranged with such expansive orchestration, there are some lovely songs that are simply arranged.
Less personal than both "Seven Swans" and "Michigan", Stevens threw himself into research and it is evident in the details of the lyrics. "Come on! Feel the Illinoise!" is bouncy and optimistic and leads into a dreamy musing on Carl Sandburg. A banjo leads in the bubbly "Decatur" while Stevens and Matt Morgan rhyme Decatur with alligator, Aviator and best of all: "Stephen A. Douglas was a great debater but/ Abraham Lincoln was the Great Emancipator!"
A song that probably gets the most notice is "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." The song is a swirl of guitars and piano and traces the life of John Wayne Gacy, Jr. The song is specific enough to mention how Gacy hit his head on a swing which resulted in a blackout-inducing blood clot in his brain. This is a song that shows Stevens strength as a writer, the song is in first person but it shifts perspectives and he prods Gacy's parents, the neighbors, his victims and the narrator himself.
One of the best songs on the album is "Casimir Pulaski Day." Named after an Illinois state holiday honoring the victor of the Battle of Brandywine (yeah, I didn't know that either), the song is an incredibly tender and heartbreaking story of a late winter death. Stevens' vocals are hushed with tender harmonies by Shara Worden. The lyrics are specific and it's the specifics that make the song so heartbreaking, the subject matter is dealt with such care and delicacy and the musical arrangement is matched perfectly to the lyrics. Through the song, harmonies are layered over the simple guitar chords, Stevens' vocals, Worden's harmonies, a banjo and finally a trumpet. It's a song that evokes powerful emotions.
Like "Michigan", "Illinois" is not for the impatient. It clocks in at 74-minutes with 21 tracks, many of them are orchestral interludes. It takes a lot of wading to get to the gems scattered about and with Stevens' delicate, precise lyrics, this isn't just background music, but it does reward those who stick to it with lovely, complex arrangements.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Track Listing:
1. Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
2. The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience, But You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, "I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!"
3. Come On! Feel the Illinoise! Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition / Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream
4. John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
5. Jacksonville
6. A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But for Very Good Reasons
7. Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!
8. One Last "Whoo-Hoo!" for the Pullman
9. Chicago
10. Casimir Pulaski Day
11. To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament
12. The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
13. Prairie Fire That Wanders About
14. A Conjuction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze
15. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!
16. They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbours!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!
17. Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bushnell
18. In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth
19. The Seer's Tower
20. The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders, Part I: The Great Frontier / Part II: Come to Me Only With Playthings Now
21. Riffs & Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds and The King of Swing, to Name a Few
22. Out of Egypt, Into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run