An Invitation

Sufjan Stevens Invites You to: Come on! Feel the Illinoise!

Back in 2001 John Linnel of They Might Be Giants fame released his first and only solo project. Entitled State Songs it consisted of 16 songs about various states. Leading off the play list was Illinois, and while State Songs was filled to the brim with the clever lyrics and catchy hooks that made They Might Be Giants great, Illinois was a major disappointment. A simple organ solo with no lyrics, it served as a mere primer to the rest of the greatness on that album. My home state got screwed. My civic pride was in shambles. My fellow statesmen weeped and tore their clothes. Until, that is, hope was restored in the form of news about Sufjan Steven's second installment to his 50 states project: Sufjan Stevens Invites You to Come on Feel the Illinoise! Would the Land of Lincoln finally get the homage she so richly deserves?

I remember the first time I heard Sufjan's first album (first state album that is) Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State. A friend of mine had given it to me, telling me "it's about Michigan." "Great." I thought, "it must be fascinating." I loaded it up in my media player, grabbed my headphones and to my shock was immediately mesmerized. Over the next few weeks I couldn't get Sufjan's unique arrangements out of my head. And his writing? Well, having grown up in Michigan, Stevens wrote songs about his memories associated with the state, no so much the state itself. The results were some of the most emotionally moving songs of 2003.

Stevens' 2004 follow-up, Seven Swans, was some what of a drop off from Michigan though his writing was still solid, he moved away from the orchestral accompaniments and odd time signatures that helped make Michigan my pick for 2003's album of the year. Based on this, it was easy to assume Stevens would continue this acoustic trend on Illinois. Turns out this isn't the case.

Illinoise starts out with a piano solo much like Michigan does with one of the quieter tracks on the album. It follows with one of the many instrumental interludes before bursting into the title track, Come on Feel the Illinoise!, Stevens' most robust and compelling song to date. Seeing as Sufjan grew up in Michigan, not Illinois, it may be unfair to expect as much emotion out of this album as Greetings From Michigan, though songs like John Wayne Gacy, Palisades, and Casimir Pulaski Day are certainly touching to say the least. Still, whatever emotion is lost from Michigan is more than made up for with Illinoise's, in-depth compositions and improved production.

It's probably unfair to compare the two albums at all as Illinoise is more than good enough to stand independent of his first work. This album is gorgeous, nothing less. An impressive composition of songs packed with strings and horns interwoven with simple, yet still beautiful, folk songs. Rarely does Illinoise let up or drop your interest, despite its length. Each song has its own uniqueness, much the way Michigan did, only better. Sporting over 20 instruments and several back up vocalists, Stevens does everything big with Illinoise. From the 74+ minute play list, to what I have to assume is a purposely pretentious and obnoxious track list as follows:

1 - Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL
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!
-Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition
-Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream
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 Step Mother!
8 - One Last "Woo-hoo!" for the Pullman
9 - Chicago
10 - Casimir Pulaski Day
11 - To the Workers of the Rockford River Valley Region, I have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament, and it involves shoe string, a lavender garland, and twelve strong women
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!! Ahhhhh!
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
-Part I: The Great Frontier
-Part II: Come to Me Only With Playthings Now
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

Though it looks daunting, only 13 of the 22 tracks are what would be considered full songs with lyrics and all, while 6 of them are less than a minute and consist of music only, (or less in the case of One Last Woo Hoo). The connections to Illinois are broad. From Come on Feel, which is a 2 part song about Chicago's Worlds Fair and Illinois' own Carl Sandburg. Decatur taps into Macon County's Civil War history while pleading for sympathy for stepmothers. Two of the albums most emotional songs, Casmir Pulaski Day and John Wayne Gacy both deal in death. The former talks about a man of faith wrestling with God over the death of a loved one and in the latter Stevens confesses, "In my best behavior, I am really just like him."

I could go on and bore you to death with a song by song recount of how great this album is, but such things get old. Obviously it's impossible to say whether or not a better album than Illinoise will come out in 2005, but I very highly doubt a more beautiful sounding one will. And even if this doesn't finish the year as my favorite, it's easy to call Sufjan Stevens one of the best song writers currently creating music. Maybe the best. Seriously. I am anxious to see where the next stop in the 50 States project will take us (current rumors say Oregon) until then it's nice to know Illinois wasn't forsaken.

Rating: 9.65/10