My Top 100 Albums: #65 - Sufjan Stevens, ‘Illinois’
65.
Sufjan Stevens, ‘Illinois’
Asthmatic Kitty, 2005
What would a contemporary musician have to do in order to capture the expansiveness, intensity, thematic consistency and ambition of a classical symphony? I can’t say for certain, but on Illinois, Midwest singer-songwriter and king of the US indie scene Sufjan Stevens gives it a damn good go. Famously the last of a supposedly abandoned 52-state album project (actually more of a gag/marketing gimmick), Illinois can be regarded as the second opus of Stevens’ symphonic catalogue, as thematic successor to 2003’s Michigan. And no, I don’t think the comparison to a classical composer is as forced as you’re imagining. The ostentatious instrumentation throughout this project showcases the strength of Stevens’ “composition” in the purest sense: his ability to combine disparate instrumental lines to create something vast and substantial, but still meaningful, is unrivalled in his era.
I suppose, musically speaking, the more accurate comparison would be to the minimalist masters Terry Riley and, in particular, Steve Reich. Stevens makes heavy use of Reichian compositional techniques to create the distinct textural landscape of Illinois, with the consistent appearance of phasing and polyphony in the layering of the various instrumental loops, as well as the occasional drones and pedal notes underpinning the harmony. Many tracks on this album would fit neatly into Reich’s Counterpoint series, if performed without the vocals. The instrumentals are largely composed of short fragments, recycled and layered to generate harmonic diversity, suggesting an electronica influence. Indeed, the sparse use of reverb, generating spacious and almost disparate harmonies, is highly reminiscent of Kraftwerk, so too the subtle, breathy, and staccato vocals. Perhaps the most startling aspect to Stevens’ compositional work is his fearlessness in regards to incorporating messy, sometimes even approaching alien, sounds. His instruments often appear slightly out-of-tune or a bit lifeless (take his plink-plonk piano arpeggios); he makes frequent use of chromaticism and discordance; he sometimes introduces harsh cuts or pauses, building up the harmony instrument-by-instrument before dropping everything suddenly to commence a new idea. He packs the instrumentation, often creating almost overbearing soundscapes, whilst the performance itself is generally austere, simple and almost amateurish, a reflection of Sufjan recording many of the instrumental parts himself. Nevertheless, every choice is clearly intentional and the effect is breathtaking, and this is just talking about the instrumentation.
The true brilliance of this album is not just in its vastness and its ambition, but that Stevens manages to marry this impeccably with softness and self-reflection in the vocals. Ostensibly a concept album about events in the history of the state of Illinois, this is just a thin veil for a more substantial reflection on life and love, religion and death, innocence and depravity. On John Wayne Gacy, Jr., Sufjan sings “And in my best behavior I am really just like him/Look beneath the floorboards for the secrets I have hid.” It is this emotional honesty that really draws you in to the album, particularly on heartbreaking cuts like Casimir Pulaski Day. Religion forms a strong influence on the lyrics too, just as it has done on Stevens as a person. This is reinforced by the clear influence of praise and worship music on songs like Decatur. But while much of the album is introspective and understated, the album is elevated by its grand, maximalist cuts such as Jacksonville and, in particular, the focal song Chicago, a passionate, semi-autobiographical retelling of a formative event in Stevens’ life, and one of his all-time catchiest songs.
Ambitious, thematic, diverse, passionate - Illinois is the modern day symphony.
Hidden Highlight: DECATUR, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!
Concerning the UFO Sighting near Highland, Illinois
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!”
COME ON! FEEL THE ILLINOISE! Part I: The World’s Columbian Exposition Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream
JOHN WAYNE GACY, JR.
JACKSONVILLE
A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, but for Very Good Reasons
DECATUR, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!
One last “Whoo-hoo!” for the Pullman
CHICAGO
CASIMIR PULASKI DAY
To The Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament
The Man of METROPOLIS Steals Our Hearts
PRAIRIE FIRE THAT WANDERS ABOUT
A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the GREAT GODFREY MAZE
The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us!
They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!
Let’s hear that string part again, because I don’t think they heard it all the way out in Bushnell
In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for whom He Saved the Earth
THE SEER’S TOWER
THE TALLEST MAN, THE BROADEST SHOULDERS Part I: The Great Frontier Part II: Come to Me Only with Playthings Now
Riffs and Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, and the King of Swing, to Name a Few
Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I shake the dirt from my sandals as I run