The most beautiful geography lesson you will ever get

Album: Illinois
Artist: Sufjan Stevens
Label: Asthmatic Kitty/Secretly Canadian and Rough Trade
Release date: 4 July, 2005
Peak chart position/sales: (US) #121 (CAN) #23

RATING: 4/5 stars

For those with the cantankerous Geography teacher, a preference for armchair travelling, or simply a lack of sufficient funds for a plane ticket, Sufjan Stevens is endeavouring to open the world to you. Or at least, the world he is most familiar with - America. On a mission to write and record an album for every one of the 50 US states, Illinois is the second in the series, following 2003's Michigan. At this rate, Stevens isn't likely to finish before he is old and grey, but at this stage he's still bursting with inspiration: such was his difficulty in fitting everything into the already lengthy Illinois, he released a complete album of offcuts and outtakes a year later. It's a daunting task to take on a review of a 22 track album that features banjos, but Stevens is quick to assure me that this is no poorly edited compilation - it's just obvious that he'd prefer a much bigger canvas.

Illinois is a marathon run of verbosely-titled stories, observations and cultural glimpses ala Tom Waits (minus the death-rattle vocals), combined with sumptuously intricate arrangements that expand, soar and build into a dreamlike parade of characters, places and historical events. Tinged with a poetic poignancy and musical versatility that is difficult to surpass, the sheer amount of influences Stevens manages to interweave is nothing short of impressive. From minimalism to music hall, alt-rock to folk, the seamless flow of the album makes it difficult to pinpoint the exact moments of brilliance - and really, it just deserves to be listened to in its all-encompassing beauty and grace.

From here.

Heartstring-tweaking piano chords and wistful flute open the album with "Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois" before diving into the almost unbearably militaristic "The Black Hawk War, Or, How To Demolish An Entire Civilisation" with breathy chorus and trilling pipes. "Come On! Feel The Illinoise!" is a brilliant festival-like tapestry, showing Stevens' talent for painting superb aural pictures and "Chicago" provides a blissfully accessible pop number that toes the line of sublime. It is the unbearably bittersweet naivete of "Casimir Pulaski Day" that shines as standout track of the album however, with Stevens' typically reflective vocal tenderly narrating an ode to a girlfriend lost to Leukaemia. Throughout the album Stevens' instrumentation is wide and ever-changing (and mostly played by him): full-blown string sections, banjo, synthesisers, gentle piano licks, breathtaking harmonies and above it all, Stevens' own whispery folk vocals that are by turns cooly intimate or trembling with emotional outburst.

The first half of the track listing is undoubtedly the strongest, with "Chicago", the banjo-filled "Decatur" and chilling "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." preceding a second half of spacey, atmospheric numbers that don't shine individually. But when the album closes with 4'22" of spectacularly mesmerising minimalism in "Out Of Egypt, Into The Great Laugh Of Mankind, And I Shake The Dirt From My Sandals As I Run", no piece of the puzzle seems unnecessary.

A breathtakingly brave and superbly composed collection of works that will dazzle, sadden, excite, serenade and then leave you feeling as though you have just woken from a peculiar - but no less wonderful - dream.


Is it worth my $$$? - While there are those who may only feel it necessary to add "Chicago" to iTunes, it seems unfair not to purchase this album in its entirety and appreciate it in the same fashion. Turn off shuffle, get comfy and close your eyes...

Listen to: Come On! Feel The Illinoise!, Chicago, Casimir Pulaski Day, Decatur