Send "SUFJAN STEVENS " Ringtones to your Cell 
| PasteMagazine |
 Sufjan Stevens is a precocious fella. After announcing in 2003 that he’d devote albums to all 50 states (thus keeping the Great Indie Concept Album Boom churning well beyond the inevitable White Stripes/Shins/Coldplay reunions a few decades hence), he produced the luminous, lush Michigan. But, with a casual smirk, he just as quickly deviated, with 2004’s wistful Seven Swans....full text |
| Reveal |
| If Sufjan Stevens’ latest album really was about the state of Illinois, I might have an easier time writing about it; indeed, Sufjan’s literate, geek-chic songwriting is packed with enough geographical and historical references to overwhelm even Illinois natives, and unpacking all twenty-two of these songs requires more than a little bit of homework. (I’ve written college-level term papers that required less research than this album does.) Oh, and there are puns, too, including the one that clues us in to the real landscape of Illinois: “I can’t explain the state that I’m in/ the state of my heart…”...full text |
| FakeJazz |
| Sufjan's tour of the 50 states began in his home state of Michigan. It's easy to write about your home state - you know its history, you know its secrets - and Michigan is a convenient state to call home since not only is it the home of a big (decrepit) city in Detroit, but its second city is the home of pinko Moorewellianism. Anyone who has seen "Roger and Me" has some affinity for Flint, so when the album launched off with "Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid)," even if Michigan isn't your home, you felt you knew something about it....full text |
SUFJAN STEVENS lyrics
