Sufjan Stevens – Illinois

I owe an apology to Sufjan Stevens. I was one of the few, that didn’t fall instantly in love with this record, which you can see from this post I made in June of this year. I think Pandas That Won’t Screw To Save Their Species, was very correct in the comment they left on that post regarding the ‘Illinois’ album as a whole.

After the first couple of listens I couldn’t get over that a lot of tracks had a very similar musical sound to those that appeared on Sufjan’s ‘Michigan’ album. Then after a long courtship, about a million Sufjan posts on Gorilla vs. Bear, the album hit me like a magic kiss. I just couldn’t stop listening to it, and I still listen to it quite a bit. This is the album that should make Sufjan Stevens a household name, but won’t. This album has been selected as the album of the year by numerous publications and blogs alike and deservingly so.

Sufjan is a great musician and songwriter. Some of the songs on this record I find myself listening to over and over, which is something I’ve never really done before. The songs “Jacksonville,” “Chicago,” and “Casmir Pulaski Day,” all are in my “Top 25 Most Played” according to my iTunes. There isn’t much that can be said that hasn’t already been said about this album, so I won’t bother trying to echo anything.

I’m glad I didn’t give up on this album in June.

What the critics say:

Pitchfork – [9.2]
Tiny Mix Tapes – 4.5/5
Coke Machine Glow – 94%
Stylus Magazine – B+

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Madison readers, buy it locally from B-Side Records. If you’re a Milwaukee reader, may I suggest Atomic Records. Please support either store if you live in Madison or Milwaukee.

You can see the rest of my 2005 favorites (so far) by clicking here.