1) Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois; 2) 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!’; 3) Come On! Feel the Illinoise!; 4) John Wayne Gacy Jr.; 5) Jacksonville; 6) A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, but for Very Good Reasons; 7) Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!; 8) One Last 'Whoo-Hoo!’ for the Pullman; 9) Chicago; 10) Casimir Pulaski Day; 11) To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament; 12) The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts; 13) Prairie Fire That Wanders About; 14) A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze; 15) The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!; 16) They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!; 17) Let’s Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don’t Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bushnell; 18) In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth; 19) The Seer’s Tower; 20) The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders; 21) Riffs and Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, and the King of Swing, to Name a Few; 22) Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run
The height of the mid-00s indie maximalism, in the form of a personalised road trip to the great state of Illinois. History lessons and heart-tugging emotional resonance.
Key tracks: "Come On! Feel the Illinoise!", "Chicago", "Casimir Pulaski Day"
Whether or not the 50 States project was ever an even remotely serious thought in Sufjan Stevens’ head, Illinois is an album that sounds like it was borne out of commitment for such a gigantic theme. The first ‘States’ album, Michigan, already hinted at a larger sound but it had its feet firmly on the ground. By Illinois, fans and critics alike had already ran full-steam ahead with the concept and thus the album too goes all the way, fully over the top with giant arrangements, ludicrous song titles, lyrics that drip with trivia and namechecks and a general world-engulfing ambition. Even if Stevens never intended to complete the other 48 states, he was fully aboard his own hype train when composing Illinois.
All the better for it - that indie pop bombast is what makes Illinois such a great album. It bears a sound aimed to create a sense of awe and wonder, utilising choirs, horns, string ensembles and any other kitchen sinks it can cram in (the instrument list for Sufjan alone is overwhelming) to create something that sounds larger than life. Through it, the state of Illinois transforms into a fantastic realm of miracles, immortal characters and epic myths, a treasure trove of legends rivaling the Greek mythology. Michigan, the obvious comparison point, used the state concept as a framework for Stevens’ more characteristic introspection; here, he’s out to create a love letter to the state itself. Sufjan himself reveals another side of himself as a charming tour guide full of dry wit and smart wordplay, shedding his usual downcast troubadour form for something more befitting of the album. There’s a particular kind of joy and awe to music that wholeheartedly believes there is no point to restrict its expression and here Sufjan shows just how well he can wield a massive set of tools.
The personal touch is still there, importantly. Had Illinois just been a state tour it could still have been a great album, but it’s Sufjan’s own connection to the state (he frequently visited it growing up) that gives the incredible sound a matching warm soul. This time it’s not as much on spotlight as it was on Michiganand things never get too dour (this is a celebration of the namesake state, after all), but it focuses the grand scope of Illinois to something closer and relates its context to a more human level, with the two sides often mingling together and subtly morphing into eachother, with the twist on “Come On! Feel the Illinoise!” and its brilliant turn from an anthemic welcome to a confessional halfway through serving as an example almost right away. The interweaving of the personal then appears throughout the rest of the album, comfortably moving amidst the whimsical history lessons. It also forms the heart of the album, with “Chicago” and “Casimir Pulaski Day”. They’re two complete opposites (one a grand anthem, the other a quiet and sparse affair) with their emotional core tightly wound to Sufjan himself. “Casimir Pulaski Day” is gorgeous and utterly heartbreaking though little to do with the state on its own (which does not undermine just what a great song it is), but “Chicago” is the ultimate mix of everything the album has to offer - it’s a stupendous signature song worth all the reverance it gets for how incredibly moving, stunning a track it is. It’s the pinnacle of Sufjan’s personal angle for the state, the tale of running away somewhere else to find something new to life, and he pours his heart over the song’s singalong-choirs, rousing choruses and sweeping string arrangements. It’s arguably Sufjan’s crowning achievement overall.
There’s certainly a lot more to the album than “Chicago”. The length - 21 songs, 75 minutes - plays into the album’s grand scale and seems like it could be a problem at first but Illinois keeps up its pace brilliantly throughout its length. For one, the number of tracks is largely inflated by the various interludes which aren’t really a big deal - they’re short (it’ll probably take you longer to read the titles for some of them) and more importantly, they’re segues done right. They bridge together the larger key tracks in a manner where the transitions blend together, allowing for the tonal and musical switches to flow from one to another without coming acgross abrupt; Illinois is a great example of interludes used effectively, weaving its many moods and elements together in a way that makes the whole so much greater. The actual songs between are all various degrees of great, to the point that listing them all out feels redundant - pick a non-interlude and it’s going to be either inspirationally fun, genuinely touching or most likely a mixture of both. It’s the final notch on Illinois’ list of achievements: despite its massive scope and size, it holds together consistently and frequently surprises with yet another new twist after you had thought you’d already heard it all. If there’s a single dipping point it’s at the very end, with the outro-esque “Out of Egypt…” fizzling out in a muted manner that is at odds compared to the rest of the journey.
After the release of Illinois and the subsequent non-appearance of any real follow-up, Sufjan would end up publicly cancelling the 50 States project while claiming it was just a publicity stunt, and whilst it would have been fascinating to say the least, it’s ended up becoming a boon to his body of work. No other state album that had come after Illinois could have topped the amount of heart, soul and creative madness that went into it: it may be just a single album but it’s a concentrated explosion of all the ambition and imagination that the entire project would have detailed. Rather than suffer from diminishing returns from recording countless more albums, each more distanced from Sufjan himself (Sufjan has admitted that he already had to relocate some anecdotes to Illinois to make them fit this album), Illinois now stands (nearly) alone among Sufjan’s works. It further emphasises just what a wonderful and unique record it is: a one-of-a-kind road trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment