Illinois

Sufjan Stevens
Label: Asthmatic Kitty
Number of Discs: 1
Format: Audio CD
Release date:5th July 2005

Studio ^{Audio CD}	$8.75

Studio ^{Audio CD}

$8.75

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Track Listing

1. Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
2. The Black Hawk War, Or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and ...
3. Come on! Feel the Illinoise!: Pt. 1: The World's Columbian Exposition
4. John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
5. Jacksonville
6. A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But for Very Good ...
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 ...
12. The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
13. Prairie Fire That Wanders About
14. A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens ...
15. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is out to Get Us!
16. They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from
17. Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It
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: Pt. 1: The Great Frontier/Pt. ...
21. Riffs and Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, ...
22. Out of Egypt, Into the Great Laugh of Mankind, And I Shake the ...

Album Description

Subtitled Come On Feel The..., Sufjan Stevens & The Michigan Militia have moved to Illinois (dubbing themselves the Illinoisemakers) but this new album is the same Sufjan we know and love. Fingerpicked ballads of delicate twang, tasteful orchestration, and titles that are murder on the ID3 tags. While this album unmistakably owes its inspiration to the sound of Michigan, Sufjan has managed to take his orchestra-like folk template and expand on it, tapping into unexpected genres and bringing unexpected instruments like strings and woodwinds to the forefront, all while relating tales of the state's history as well as possibly fictional stories about its residents. To sweeten the deal, Sufjan's vocals have also improved some: he's managed to make his thin, meek vocal presence a little more noticeable, and while that doesn't stop him from using members of the quirky Danielson Famile as his own personal choir, it's nice to hear him sound more assured on some of this album's mellower moments. Rough Trade. 2005.

Amazon.com

Illinois sounds like The Sea and Cake collaborating with the high-school band from a Wes Anderson film on banjo-driven, pulsing meditations on Vince Guaraldi's music for Peanuts. Sufjan Stevens, the singer-songwriter behind the endeavor, is an earnest and whimsical young man who aims to record an album based on every state in the union, though this is just his second attempt since 2003's Michigan. Lavish praise has been heaped upon this precocious twenty-something, who weaves personal recollections, historical narratives, and strange facts together to create lush portraits of Midwestern life. It's not maudlin stuff, and the atypical instrumentation (strings, choirs, trumpets, vibes) is beyond gimmick. Halfway through "John Wayne Gacy, Jr.," when Stevens has you feeling true empathy for a serial killer, it's clear that he really is an artist of the highest order. These are weird and lovely middlebrow ditties; we eagerly await the Broadway adaptation. --Mike McGonigal

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