Getting Sufjan
Readers of this blog over the past year will know that there is no other music on the planet which has gripped me as deeply or as tenaciously as that of Sufjan Stevens. At the Philly show from his recent “Butterfly Brigade” tour I felt that I was seeing all of the eschatological, already/not yet New Creation I had been studying about in seminary for the past two years presented as a beautifully integrated work of art on the stage of the Tower Theater. Many concerts I’ve been to have been fun or entertaining; Sufjan’s was eye-opening, revelational, elevating.
So you can understand perhaps that I was left fuming and frustrated by the highhanded dismissal of Stevens’ Illinois project by two hipper-than-thou Eastern Nazarene College professors in a Christianity Today Online review. Sufjan’s music doesn’t match his poetry?? The sheer beauty and perfection of the “match” is one of the chief reasons I love his music. But now blogger Cliff has come to my rescue with the most insightful review of Illinois I’ve seen yet. I have listened to this album in its entirety dozens of times and never realized its chiastic structure, for one thing!
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November 28th, 2006 at 11:15 pm
Thanks for the pointer, Mark.
November 29th, 2006 at 8:48 am
Hmmm. I am not such a fan of Steven’s music, but I think that has to do with his style. I for one appreciated the BC reveiwers critique of his music and approach. I think it may be the only critical review of Stevens I’ve seen.
November 29th, 2006 at 8:55 am
I certainly wouldn’t mean to imply that everyone would or should be a fan of Sufjan’s music. Neither should his work (or that of any artist) be above criticism. But I think that Craig’s response that I linked to above shatters their superficial evaluation of one album out of Sufjan’s canon.
November 29th, 2006 at 11:17 am
Reading the CT review, I laughed out loud as they dismissed reviews by the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and the Villiage Voice. Ha! Ha! Man, that’s rich. Classic, just classic.
November 29th, 2006 at 5:25 pm
that whole chiastic structure part of cliff’s review is…well, it’s absurd. i have to say, i did not have the same experience as you at the last sufjan show i went to. i prefer simple music. the more extravagant his compositions get the less i feel interest. i have always been more a fan of bands like the pixies and guided by voices though. less elton john and yes, more rock!
November 29th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
Hmm, Jed….sure there’s not some leftover “Famile” sour grapes in there?
I ask that half seriously because I felt that the impression the documentarian was trying to make in the last part of the Danielson documentary was that Sufjan basically “stole” Daniel Smith’s gig and then became famous for it. Any truth there?
December 1st, 2006 at 8:49 pm
Do you have the Christmas CD? A friend just picked it up - a 5 disc set. It includes a comic about santa and his issues that are remedied by chocolate and caffeine. Interesting…
December 1st, 2006 at 11:25 pm
I don’t, but I do have some of the songs that were floating around the Internet in past years, back when these were just little musical Christmas cards he made to send to friends and family. I’ve also listened to the entire boxed set online (it’s streaming for free right now at the Asthmatic Kitty Records site). I like it a lot; great combination of stunning beauty and childlike playfulness.