You know what the true genius is of Sufjan Stevens' 50-states albums? They're not about states and their woolly, idiosyncratic histories, cultures and personalities. They're about you and me right here, right now; the intimacy, the joy, the sadness of life; my life, your life, our lives. Provincialism becomes universalism, the sprawling becomes the specific. Where am I? Right here. Embrace it. Embrace me.
The harmonies and instrumentation on "For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti," when the "I'll do anything for you / I did everything for you" line repeats over and over, is breathtaking. I could listen to those two minutes all day. (It's track 3 on "Michigan.")
Here's some (dark) video of his suite on the BQE, performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music last year. Anyone who can make art from one of the city's (any city's) ugliest highways is incredible:
It's been three years now since "Illinois" was released. Hopefully we're closer to the release of the next record than we are the release of that one. Maybe an EP about Delaware or Rhode Island as a placeholder?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
holla back! read it! (the post above encompasses politics AND sports, i see. you can bet that was a skipper.)
i think one time back in 2004 i did listen to those two minutes all day. after that, though, i lost interest in sufjan. he never quite gives me anything to sink my teeth into.
You should type the song title into YouTube. I found a video of Stevens sitting on a wooden fence (in front of a silo, I think) in a very rural locale, playing that song solo on a banjo. You'll probably find it too precious, considering the comment, but maybe since you like the song so much you'll like this.
Too many political posts accumulating in my mind the past two weeks, though I was thinking about posting about the Postal Service's "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight." Does that, too, fall into the "too precious" category for you too read?
Post a Comment