Illinois: Sufjan Stevens’ Daunting Task of Recording States 
by Mitch Mitchell

Sufjan Stevens (the ‘j’ is pronounced as in German, or like the English ‘y’), an independent artist, has made an astounding imprint upon the singer-songwriter folk music scene. Since 2000, he has managed to produce seven studio releases, three of them receiving attention on the Billboard charts either in the Hot 200 or in the US Heatseekers category. Most notably, Stevens has spearheaded a personal experiment in the concept album field that is supposedly intended to cover all 50 states. Only two such albums exist to date. The first, Michigan (2003) is a tribute to Stevens’ home state. The second, Illinois (2005) was ranked as number one on Billboard’s US Heatseekers chart. It was Illinois that cast Stevens into the limelight of the independent music company, the rare few independent artists who achieve a household name, yet retain their chic elitism.

The original album art for the cover of Illinois encourages listeners with “Sufjan Stevens invites you to: Come on feel the Illinoise.” The project is as diverse as it is dense; the complete set of cuts clocks in at a running time of just over 74 minutes (in the iTunes exclusive version, it’s an even heftier 82:51). There is indeed plenty of noise to feel. The history of the state to which the album owes its name is, rather impressively, well-presented and covered by Stevens. Each of the 22 tracks holds either a story or reference to state history in the title. The underlying lyrics themselves are an appropriate streambed to further the allusions in track titles, but also contain their own intricacies independent of the song titling.

Intricacies are indeed Stevens’ focus in the album, which seems a bit counterintuitive at first. The idea of a state and its own history are such a big concept to grasp within the scope of a single work, but Stevens proves that it is possible. And, not only is it possible, it comes off as a brilliant survey on the diverse micro elements of individuals and culture that inevitably were contributory factors in the broad picture of a single history.

The album starts out with “Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois” which is a rhythmic piano melody paired with flute responses and Stevens’ own voice. Words in the lyric such as “When the remnant came down / We couldn’t imagine what it was” and “Incarnation, three stars / Delivering signs and dusting from their eyes” hint at a very religious overtone about the physical embodiment of a Messiah. The track actually has little to do with the state, but is followed by a celebratory instrumental interlude, a deconstruction of song title brevity, named “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!'” The title directly references the Black Hawk War, satirizes its implications for the American Indian, and quotes the words of Chief Black Hawk all in a single title.

After the very curious start, some of the more noteworthy tracks stand out amongst others in a work that is highly playable from the very beginning track to the final release of sustain pedal on the piano in  “Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run.” The eerie “John Wayne Gacy, Jr. is perhaps the most song-like because it follows a standard verse-chorus structure. It is very introspective and hushed with a calming tone about the doings of a serial killer, the namesake of the track. It also contains one of the best personal revelations in Stevens’ voice, which is, “In my best behavior, I am really just like him / Look beneath the floorboards for the secrets I have hid.” Apparently, the shock of the acts of Gacy are, for Stevens, a lesson in his own depravity, and it is a reminder that everyone, like Gacy, have secrets beneath the floorboards.

The cheery “Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Step Mother!” is led by the plucking of a banjo and refers to an “abolition grain train” (of the Caterpillar™ variety) and both Stephen A. Douglas and the Great Emancipator, Abe Lincoln. Also included, is another religious reference in the lyric with “It’s the Great ‘I Am.’” The track titled “Chicago” is perhaps most loyal to the best of Sufjan Stevens innovation. It is symphonic and showboats Stevens’ multi-instrumentalism. Following that, “Casimir Pulaski Day” unveils a return to the original mellow that was found in “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” The lyric speaks on “cancer of the bone,” praying “Tuesday night at the Bible study, and quotes James 5:14 with “All the glory that the Lord has made.”

Another notable track is found with “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us.” The circular strumming of guitar leads into an increasingly symphonic collection of instruments. It terminates with a very whimsical polyphony that is then extended into a growing chord that isn’t resolved until the very beginning of the next track (“They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!”) in a very immediate change of pace.

The tail end of the album covers historical figures and places, aiming at both the obscure and the memorialized. The song title, “In This Temple As In the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth” is both an adaptation of the inscription (the original ends “for whom he saved the union” at the Lincoln Memorial and yet another Messianic reference. “The Seers Tower” is a homophone for the famous Sears Tower and issues a cry for an enrobed “Emmanuel” in the tower above of the Earth. “The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders” alludes to the “Spirit” and the “Carpenter”. “Riffs and Variations” is a roll call for jazz legends Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, et al. “Out of Egypt, Into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals As I Run” finalizes the album by referring to Cairo, Illinois and to the biblical flight. The music (no words with this track) is an almost eternal coating. Since the rest of the instruments decay first, the ending is a single sustained piano note, of which you can hear the pedal stop as the pedal is released and the note ceases.

Throughout the album, each track appears as a coherent thought, a substantial piece of both the tapestry of Illinois history and the musings of Sufjan Stevens himself. Perhaps the most tacit brilliance of Illinois is its contrast between single-listen independent songs (the radio-ready variety) separated by theme and variations interludes. Stevens accomplishes this throughout, simultaneously expounding upon the history of the state and releasing his personal narrative in a sort of fictional account. It is indeed a fine work in quasi-historical fiction.

Sufjan Stevens received multiple “Album of the Year” awards for his accomplishments in Illinois from the editors of Amazon.com, Entertainment Weekly, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. Illinois is available anywhere quality music is sold.