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Sufjan Stevens

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Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens at the Independent Music Awards, Webster Hall, New York City
Background information
OriginDetroit, Michigan
Years active1999 - present

Sufjan Stevens (IPA pronunciation: [ˈsʊfjɑn]) (born July 1, 1975) is an American musician, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Detroit, Michigan. He is known for his lyrically focused and instrumentally rich songs that often relate to faith and family. He has enjoyed wide critical success in the United States. He is considered part of the folk revival in indie pop, but his influences are very broad, including electronica, the jazz of Vince Guaraldi, and the academic minimalism of Reich and Glass. Stevens has announced plans to make an album for each of the 50 U.S. states, beginning the series with the albums Michigan (2003) and Illinois (2005).

Background

Stevens was born in Detroit, Michigan. He attended Hope College on the west coast of Michigan. [1]

The name Sufjan is an Arabic/Persian name that predates Islam and most famously belonged to Abu Sufyan, a figure from early Islamic history. It has been mentioned in the press that the name was given to Stevens by the leader of Subud, a spiritual sect to which his parents belonged when he was born. [2] Stevens has stated that the name is of Armenian origin and means "comes with a sword," and that it is "a charming militaristic Muslim name." [3]

A multi-instrumentalist, Stevens plays the banjo, guitar, drums, and several other instruments, often playing all of these on his albums through the use of multi-tracking. While in school, he studied the oboe and English horn, which he also plays on his albums; he is one of the few musicians in popular music to use these instruments.

Career

Sufjan Stevens began his musical career as a member of Marzuki, a folk-rock band from Holland, Michigan. He also played (and continues to play) various instruments for Danielson Famile. While in school at Hope College, Stevens wrote and recorded his debut solo album, A Sun Came, which he released on Asthmatic Kitty Records, a record label he founded with his step-father. He later moved to New York City, where he was enrolled in a writing program at the New School for Social Research.

While in New York, Stevens composed and recorded the music for his second album, Enjoy Your Rabbit, a song cycle based around the animals of the Chinese Zodiac that ventured into electronica.

Stevens followed this with the first of his 50 states albums, a collection of folk songs and instrumentals inspired by his home state of Michigan. The result, the expansive Michigan, included odes to cities including Detroit and Flint, the Upper Peninsula, and vacation areas such as Tahquamenon Falls. Melded into the scenic descriptions and characters are his own declarations of faith in God, sorrow, love and the regeneration of Michigan.

Following the release of Michigan, Stevens compiled a collection of songs recorded previously into a side project, the Christian-folk album Seven Swans, which was released in March 2004.

Next he released the second in the 50 states projects, entitled Illinois. Among the subjects explored on Illinois are the cities of Chicago, Decatur and Jacksonville, the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, the poet Carl Sandburg, and Mississippi Palisades State Park [1].

He has contributed to the music of Denison Witmer, Soul Junk, Half-handed Cloud, Brother Danielson, Danielson Famile, Serena Maneesh, Castanets, and Liz Janes. A cover of Tim Buckley's "She Is" is included on the album Dream Brother, released in the United States on January 31, 2006.

Sufjan contributed a lot to the sound of the 2001 Liz Janes album Done Gone Fire as he engineered, recorded, produced and arranged it as well as playing many addition instruments.

Sufjan recently recorded with Rosie Thomas and Denison Witmer playing banjo and providing vocals. It is unknown how this record will be released.

The Fifty States Project

Beginning with Michigan, Stevens announced an intent to write an album for each of the 50 U.S. states, although in interviews he wavers between utter sincerity and self-deprecating irony when describing the idea.

File:Illinois-stevens.jpg
Original album cover of Illinois featuring depiction of Superman

Stevens spent the second half of 2004 researching and writing material for the second of these projects, this time focusing his efforts on Illinois. As with Michigan, Stevens used the state of Illinois as a leaping-off point for his more personal explorations of faith, family, love, and location. Though slated for general release on July 5, 2005, the album was briefly delayed by legal issues regarding the use of Superman in the original album cover artwork. In the double vinyl release, a balloon sticker has been placed over Superman on the cover art of the first 5,000 copies. It is assumed that the next printing will have the balloons on the cover instead of Superman or it will be empty, as with the CD release. [2]

The widely acclaimed Illinois was the highest rated album of 2005 on the Metacritic review aggregator site, based on glowing reviews from Pitchfork, The Onion A/V Club, Spin, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and The Guardian. [3]. The 2006 PLUG Independent Music Awards awarded Stevens with the Album Of The Year, Best Album Art/Packaging, and Male Artist Of The Year. Pitchfork Media and Paste Magazine named Illinois as the editors' choice for best album of 2005 and Stevens received the 2005 Pantheon prize, awarded to albums selling 500,000 copies or fewer, for Illinois. In April of 2006, Stevens announced that 21 pieces of music he had culled from the Illinois recording sessions would be incorporated into a new album, called The Avalanche. [4]. The album was released on July 11, 2006.

The next states to be taken on in the project have been reported as Oregon and Rhode Island.[4] Minnesota may be another candidate; in late 2005 and early 2006 Stevens played a new instrumental track titled "The Maple River." The Maple River mentioned in the title of the song runs through several counties in southern Minnesota.[5] Sufjan also recorded "The Lord God Bird[5]"—a song about the ivory-billed woodpecker rediscovered in Arkansas—in connection with a National Public Radio piece in which "independent radio producers Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister were curious about how Stevens writes his songs."

"Sufjan Stevens is not going to write a record for each of the 50 states after all." was the original text included on the online liner notes for their Mews Too: An Asthmatic Kitty Compilation disc released on February 7, 2006. [6]. This statement was possibly included as a joke, as the text has since been removed and the current liner notes related to Sufjan Stevens reads, "18. Sufjan Stevens can fold a fitted-sheet (he once worked as a professional folder in a commercial Laundromat)."

There have been other times Stevens has said he does not really plan to make an album for every state, specifically listing Texas as a state he will "probably never do." [7].

Religious themes

Many of Stevens's songs have religious and spiritual allusions, but his album Seven Swans has the most direct religious references. Stevens has expressed that he is Christian, but does not overtly advertise this aspect of himself in his music. Stevens has also stated that he does not try to make music "with a message", or music for the sake of preaching. "I don't think music media is the real forum for theological discussions," says Stevens. "I think I've said things and sung about things that probably weren't appropriate for this kind of forum. And I just feel like it's not my work or my place to be making claims and statements, because I often think it's misunderstood."[6]

The songs 'Abraham', 'Seven Swans', 'To Be Alone With You', 'We Won't Need Legs To Stand' and 'The Transfiguration' directly address Christianity on the album Seven Swans. In 'Abraham', Sufjan recounts the Old Testament story in the Book of Genesis when Abraham, ordered by God as a test of faith, leads his son, Isaac, up a mountain and prepares to kill him, as commanded (but before God sends an angel to intervene). The lyrics of 'The Transfiguration' follow the Biblical accounts of Jesus' Transfiguration in Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9: 1-8, and Luke 9:28-36. The Biblical texts may be found online here: [8].

Michigan and Illinois are packed with Christian references and metaphors. Michigan contains "Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie", which implores "Oh Lamb of God! Tell us Your perfect design and give us the rod" ("Lamb of God" being a Biblical name for Jesus Christ). The song "Oh God, Where Are You Now?" asks God to "hold me now", to "save somehow", searching for God in the midst of personal turmoil. "There's no other man who could save the dead," the song states. The album closer, 'Vito's Ordination Song', was apparently originally written for Sufjan's friend Vito Aiuto, and its lyrics can readily be understood as God speaking to a human being ("I always knew you. In your mother's arms, I have called your name", "I've made a crown for you"). The song speaks of "When the bridegroom comes" - the New Testament speaks of Jesus Christ as being the Bridegroom and the Church His Bride, finally being united together at the End of Time.

Illinois features the song 'Chicago' with its refrain of "You came to save us, to recreate us", and 'Decatur' has the chorus of "It's the great I Am" ("I Am" being the name the Lord reveals Himself by to Moses in Exodus 3:14). "Casimir Pulaski Day" speaks of "All the glory that the Lord has made" in the midst of personal pain and loss. "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us!" has the lyrics: "Lamb of God, we sound the horn. Hallelujah!" One instrumental passage has the title of "In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth". "The Seer's Tower" speaks of Emanuel, "With His sword, with His robe He comes dividing man from brothers" (an interesting side note is that "Sufjan" actually means "comes with a sword"). Indeed, the vast majority of songs of Illinois contain lyric lines which can be readily identified as having a basis in Stevens' faith in Christ.

Sufjan's second, electronic album, Enjoy Your Rabbit, contains a song cycle based on of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, culminating with the song "Year of our Lord". Stevens released the original, Christian-themed song "God'll Ne'er Let You Down" on the "To Spirit Back the Mews" compilation on Asthmatic Kitty. The officially unreleased Christmas albums Sufjan Stevens has made feature suitably Christmas and Christian themed music, both originals and covers of hymns and traditional songs.

Discography

Studio Releases

Year Album US Hot 200 US Heatseekers US Independent US Digital US Internet Canada
2000 A Sun Came - - - - - -
2001 Enjoy Your Rabbit - - - - - -
2003 Michigan - - - - - -
2004 Seven Swans - - - - - -
2005 Illinois 121 #1 4 - 172 -
2006 The Avalanche 71 - 4 6 - 93
  • Notes:
  1. A Sun Came was re-released on July 20, 2004.
  2. Enjoy Your Rabbit was re-released June 8, 2004.
  3. The Michigan album is also known as Greatings from Michigan: The Great Lake State.
  4. Michigan was released on vinyl on September 20, 2004.
  5. The Illinois album is also known as Come on Feel the Illinoise.
  6. Illinois was released on vinyl on November 21, 2005.
  7. The Avalanche album is also known as The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album.

Other Releases

Samples

Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end

A complete MP3 of "Holland" (from Michigan) is available for download from the Asthmatic Kitty Records website.

See also

Footnotes

  1. a Pitchfork Media, "Pitchforkmedia Interview" (July, 2004)
  2. a Junk Media, "Junkmedia: An Interview with Sufjan Stevens" (May 12, 2004)
  3. a Washington Post, "Sufjan Stevens's Musical States of Mind" (September 23, 2005)
  4. a SF Weekly, "Art of the States" (July 13, 2005)
  5. a NPR Interview and Original song "The Lord God Bird" (July 6, 2005)
  6. a Village Voice, "Without a Prayer" (August 8, 2005)
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