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Sufjan Stevens

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Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens (IPA pronunciation: [ˈsuf jɑn]) (born July 1, 1975) is an American musician, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Michigan. He is known for his lyrically focused and instrumentally rich songs that often relate to faith and family. He has enjoyed wide critical success in the United States. He is considered part of the folk revival in indie pop, but his influences are very broad. His music has been likened to electronica,[1] the jazz of Vince Guaraldi,[2] and the academic minimalism of Steve Reich.[3] Stevens has announced plans to make an album for each of the 50 U.S. states, having begun the series with the albums Michigan (2003) and Illinois (2005).

Background

Stevens was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Petoskey.[4] He attended Hope College in the southwestern part of Michigan.

The name Sufjan is an Arabic name that predates Islam and most famously belonged to Abu Sufyan, a figure from early Islamic history. It has been mentioned in the press that the name was given to Stevens by the founder of Subud, an inter-faith, non-religious spiritual community to which his parents belonged when he was born.[5] Stevens has stated that the name is of Armenian origin and means "comes with a sword," and that it is "a charming militaristic Muslim name."[6]

His brother, Marzuki Stevens, is currently training to compete in the 2008 Olympic trials, and has played on two of Sufjan's albums.

A multi-instrumentalist, Stevens plays the banjo, guitar, drums, and several other instruments, often playing all of these on his albums through the use of multitrack recording. While in school, he studied the oboe and English horn, which he also plays on his albums; he is one of the few musicians in popular music to use these instruments.

Stevens currently lives in the neighborhood of Kensington in the Brooklyn borough of New York City[7] where he makes up the Asthmatic Kitty Records staff of the Brooklyn office.[8]

Career

Stevens at the Independent Music Awards, Webster Hall, New York City

Sufjan Stevens began his musical career as a member of Marzuki, a folk-rock band from Holland, Michigan. He also played (and continues to play) various instruments for Danielson Famile. While in school at Hope College, Stevens wrote and recorded his debut solo album, A Sun Came, which he released on Asthmatic Kitty Records, a record label he founded with his step-father. He later moved to New York City, where he was enrolled in a writing program at the New School for Social Research.

While in New York, Stevens composed and recorded the music for his second album, Enjoy Your Rabbit, a song cycle based around the animals of the Chinese Zodiac that ventured into electronica.

Stevens followed this with the first of his ambitious 50 states albums, a collection of folk songs and instrumentals inspired by his home state of Michigan. The result, the expansive Michigan, included odes to cities including Detroit and Flint, the Upper Peninsula, and vacation areas such as Tahquamenon Falls. Melded into the scenic descriptions and characters are his own declarations of faith in God, sorrow, love and the regeneration of Michigan.

Following the release of Michigan, Stevens compiled a collection of songs recorded previously into a side project, the Christian-folk album Seven Swans, which was released in March 2004.

Next he released the second in the 50 states project, entitled Illinois. Among the subjects explored on Illinois are the cities of Chicago, Decatur and Jacksonville, the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, the poet Carl Sandburg, and the serial killer John Wayne Gacy Jr.

He has contributed to the music of Denison Witmer, Soul Junk, Half-handed Cloud, Brother Danielson, Danielson Famile, Serena Maneesh, Castanets, and Liz Janes. He has contributed covers of Tim and Jeff Buckley and The Beatles to various tribute albums.

Sufjan recently recorded with Rosie Thomas and Denison Witmer playing banjo and providing vocals. It is unknown how this record will be released. In April 2006, Pitchfork erroneously announced that Stevens and Thomas were having a baby together, but were forced to print a retraction.[9][10][11] Witmer and Thomas later admitted it was an April Fools' prank.[12]

On November 21, 2006, a five cd box set Songs for Christmas was released, which contains originals and Christmas standards recorded every year since 2001 (except 2004). "Sufjan indulged in the project initially as an exercise to make himself “appreciate” Christmas more"[13] It seems Sufjan was interested in the contrast between the excesses of Christmas and the spirit of it (or the "sacred and the profane"). Many of the songs were the work of an annual collaboration between Sufjan and his friend and minister Vito Aiuto; the songs themselves were distributed to friends and family.

The Fifty States Project

File:Illinois-stevens.jpg
Original album cover of Illinois featuring depiction of Superman

Beginning with Michigan, Stevens announced an intent to write an album for each of the 50 U.S. states, although in interviews he wavers between utter sincerity and self-deprecating irony when describing the idea.

Stevens spent the second half of 2004 researching and writing material for the second of these projects, this time focusing his efforts on Illinois. As with Michigan, Stevens used the state of Illinois as a leaping-off point for his more personal explorations of faith, family, love, and location. Though slated for general release on July 5, 2005, the album was briefly delayed by legal issues regarding the use of Superman in the original album cover artwork. In the double vinyl release, a balloon sticker has been placed over Superman on the cover art of the first 5,000 copies. It is assumed that the next printing will have the balloons on the cover instead of Superman or it will be empty, as with the CD release.[14]

The widely acclaimed Illinois was the highest-rated album of 2005 on the Metacritic review aggregator site, based on glowing reviews from Pitchfork, The Onion A/V Club, Spin, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, KEXP, and The Guardian.[15] The 2006 PLUG Independent Music Awards awarded Stevens with the Album Of The Year, Best Album Art/Packaging, and Male Artist Of The Year. Pitchfork Media, No Ripcord, and Paste Magazine named Illinois as the editors' choice for best album of 2005 and Stevens received the 2005 Pantheon prize, awarded to albums selling 500,000 copies or fewer, for Illinois. In April of 2006, Stevens announced that 21 pieces of music he had culled from the Illinois recording sessions would be incorporated into a new album, called The Avalanche.[16] The album was released on July 11, 2006.

The next states to be taken on in the project have been reported as Oregon and Rhode Island.[17] Minnesota may be another candidate; in late 2005 and early 2006 Stevens played a new instrumental track titled "The Maple River." The Maple River mentioned in the title of the song runs through several counties in southern Minnesota. Sufjan also recorded "The Lord God Bird"[18] Stevens wrote a song about the ivory-billed woodpecker rediscovered in Arkansas (known as the 'lord god' or 'great god' bird because of its breathtaking appearance)) in connection with a National Public Radio piece in which "independent radio producers Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister were curious about how Stevens writes his songs."

"Sufjan Stevens is not going to write a record for each of the 50 states after all" was the original text included on the online liner notes for their Mews Too: An Asthmatic Kitty Compilation disc released on February 7, 2006.[19] This statement was possibly included as a joke, as the text has since been removed and the current liner notes related to Sufjan Stevens reads, "18. Sufjan Stevens can fold a fitted-sheet (he once worked as a professional folder in a commercial Laundromat)." There have been other times Stevens has said he does not really plan to make an album for every state, specifically listing Texas as a state he will "probably never do."[20]

Christian themes

Many of Stevens's songs have religious and spiritual allusions, but his album Seven Swans has the most direct religious references. Stevens has expressed that he is Christian, but does not overtly advertise this aspect of himself in his music. Stevens attends a church that he describes as "a kind of Anglo-Catholic church"[21]; however, he has also stated that he does not try to make music "with a message", or music for the sake of preaching. "I don't think music media is the real forum for theological discussions," says Stevens. "I think I've said things and sung about things that probably weren't appropriate for this kind of forum. And I just feel like it's not my work or my place to be making claims and statements, because I often think it's misunderstood."[22] The songs 'Abraham', 'Seven Swans', 'To Be Alone With You', 'He Woke Me Up Again', 'We Won't Need Legs To Stand' and 'The Transfiguration' directly address Christianity on the album Seven Swans. In 'Abraham', Sufjan recounts the Old Testament story in the Book of Genesis where Abraham, ordered by God as a test of faith, leads his son Isaac up a mountain and prepares to kill him before God sends an angel to intervene. The lyrics of 'The Transfiguration' follow the Biblical accounts of Jesus' Transfiguration in Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9: 1-8, and Luke 9:28-36.[23] In addition, 'All The Trees Of The Fields Will Clap Their Hands', a song on the album Seven Swans, is a quote from Isaiah 55:12.[24]

Michigan and Illinois are packed with Christian references and metaphors. Michigan contains "Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie", which implores "Oh Lamb of God! Tell us Your perfect design and give us the rod" ("Lamb of God" being a Biblical name for Jesus Christ). The song "Oh God, Where Are You Now?" asks God to "hold me now", to "save somehow", searching for God in the midst of personal turmoil. "There's no other man who could raise the dead," the song states. The album closer, 'Vito's Ordination Song', was apparently originally written for Sufjan's friend Vito Aiuto, and its lyrics can readily be understood as God speaking to a human being ("I always knew you. In your mother's arms, I have called your name", "I've made a crown for you"). The song speaks of "When the bridegroom comes" - the New Testament speaks of Jesus Christ as being the Bridegroom and the Church His Bride, finally being united together at the End of Time.

Illinois features the song 'Chicago' with its refrain of "You came to take us, to recreate us", and 'Decatur' has the chorus of "It's the great I Am" ("I Am" being the name the Lord reveals Himself by to Moses in Exodus 3:14). "Casimir Pulaski Day" speaks of "All the glory that the Lord has made" in the midst of personal pain and loss, while also noting the limitations of personal faith, singing, "Tuesday night at the Bible study, we lift our hands and pray over your body but nothing ever happens." "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us!" has the lyrics: "Lamb of God, we sound the horn. Hallelujah!" One instrumental passage has the title of "In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth". "The Seer's Tower" speaks of Emanuel, "With His sword, with His robe He comes dividing man from brothers". Indeed, the vast majority of songs of Illinois contain lyric lines which can be interpreted as having a basis in Stevens' faith in Christ. However, a fair interpretion must also factor in other lines such as "Casimir Pulaski Day" mentioning the failure of faith healing, the unspecific divinity referenced in "Chicago," and unconventional quasi-Christian imagery such as "Lamb of God...to us Your ghost is born" ("...Palisades...") and "Emmanuel of Mothers" ("The Seer's Tower"). His usage of Christian imagery may be more of a nod to his heritage, the culture of the States he chronicles, and a source of stirring imagery than a testament to faith. Indeed, the reverential "Lord God Bird" is actually a profile of a woodpecker and the town it inhabits (NPR article on the bird and song). So, Sufjan Stevens can be seen using "holy" metaphors for a mundane subject. [original research?]

Sufjan's second, electronic album, Enjoy Your Rabbit, contains a song cycle based on the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, culminating with the song "Year of our Lord". Stevens released the original, Christian-themed song "God'll Ne'er Let You Down" on the "To Spirit Back the Mews" compilation on Asthmatic Kitty.

The November 2006 album Songs for Christmas features original Christmas music and covers of hymns and traditional songs.

Discography

Studio releases

Year Album US Hot 200 US Heatseekers US Independent US Digital US Internet Canada
2000 A Sun Came - - - - - -
2001 Enjoy Your Rabbit - - - - - -
2003 Michigan - - - - - -
2004 Seven Swans - - - - - -
2005 Illinois 121 #1 4 - 172 -
2006 The Avalanche 71 - 4 6 - 93
2006 Songs for Christmas 122 - 3 - 17 -
  • Notes:
  1. A Sun Came was re-released on July 20, 2004.
  2. Enjoy Your Rabbit was re-released June 8, 2004.
  3. Michigan is also known as Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lake State.
  4. Michigan was released on vinyl on September 20, 2004.
  5. Illinois is also known as Come on, Feel the Illinoise!.
  6. Illinois was released on vinyl on November 21, 2005.
  7. The Avalanche is also known as The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album.
  8. Sufjan Stevens can no longer appear on the Top Heatseekers chart as The Avalanche appeared in the Billboard Top 100.

Other releases

Samples

Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end

Allusions and inclusions in other media

  • On Snow Patrol's "Hands Open", the band makes reference to Stevens: Put Sufjan Stevens on and we'll play your favorite song / "Chicago" bursts to life and your sweet smile remembers you.
  • Sufjan has twice been featured on the FOX television show The OC: "To Be Alone With You" and "For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti" can be heard on episodes 202 and 315, respectively.
  • Sufjan has also been featured twice on the American television series Nip/Tuck, "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." and "All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands" are played during the final scenes of episodes 3.05 ("Frankenlaura") and 4.11 ("Conor McNamara, 2026"), respectively.
  • "All The Trees Of The Field Will Clap Their Hands", from Seven Swans, appears in the American television comedy series Weeds, on the end credits of Season 1, episode 2. The song can be found on the soundtrack as well.
  • "Opie's Funeral Song" Originally named "Omi's funeral song" that name was changed after friend in question wanted a bit more anonymity.The friend in question is probably Omi chowdhury (Asthmatic Kitty, February 7, 2006)
  • "Holland" appears on Season 2, episode 10 of Weeds
  • "O God Where Are You Now" was covered by the Christian rock group David Crowder Band on their 2005 album "A Collision". [1]
  • "For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti" appears in one of the trailers for Invisible Children.
  • Sufjan's music is featured heavily in the new movie Driving Lessons starring Rupert Grint, Julie Walters and Laura Linney.
  • Canadian Broadcasting Corportation (CBC) FM Radio One has used several samples from Illinois in various programs

References

  1. ^ Pattison, Louis. "Avalanche Review". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2006-11-29. Part psychedelic bluegrass, part extra-terrestrial electronic ambience, and part tribal percussion-fest
  2. ^ McGonigal, Mike. "Illinois - Amazon Editorial Review". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2006-11-29. ...banjo-driven, pulsing meditations on Vince Guaraldi's music for Peanuts
  3. ^ Gill, Andy. "Illinoise Review". Uncut. Retrieved 2006-11-29. All rendered in a weird, pan-stylistic blend of alt.country, minimalism and American brass band music
  4. ^ Vander Plaat, Heather (April 2006). ""A distinctive musical voice"". {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |publication= ignored (help)
  5. ^ Odland, Jeffrey (May 12, 2004). ""Junkmedia: An Interview with Sufjan Stevens"". Junk Media. Retrieved 2006-08-27.
  6. ^ Harrington, Richard (September 23, 2005). ""Sufjan Stevens's Musical States of Mind"". Washington Post. Retrieved 2006-08-27.
  7. ^ Guarino, Mark (July, 2006). "Sufjan Stevens: Wonder Boy". Harp Magazine. Retrieved 2006-11-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "About Us". Asthmatic Kitty Records. Retrieved 2006-11-29.
  9. ^ "Sufjan Stevens Hypothetical Tracklists". Stereogum.com. April 13, 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "Sufjan E-Mails Smack Down". Filter Magazine. April 13, 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ Crock, Jason (May 15, 2006). "Interview: Sufjan Stevens". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2006-11-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ http://www.denisonwitmer.com/news.php?rowstart=10
  13. ^ "Songs For Christmas". Ashmtatic Kitty Records. November 21, 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ http://www.asthmatickitty.com/news.php?newsID=35
  15. ^ "Best of 2005". Metacritic. Retrieved 2006-11-29.
  16. ^ Cohen, Jonathan (April 7, 2006). "Stevens revisits 'Illinois'". Monsters and Critics.com. Retrieved 2006-11-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Dahlen, Chris (July 13, 2005). ""Art of the States"". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2006-08-27.
  18. ^ "Brinkley, Ark., Embraces 'The Lord God Bird'". National Public Radio. July 6, 2005. Retrieved 2006-08-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ "Asthmatic Kitty Records : Various Artists > Mews Too: An Asthmatic Kitty Compilation". Retrieved 2006-11-29.
  20. ^ Bully, Jenny. "Sufjan Stevens". Mojo Magazine. Retrieved 2006-11-29.
  21. ^ Murray, Noel (July 13, 2005). "Interview : Sufjan Stevens". The Onion A.V. Club. Retrieved 2006-11-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ Sylvester, Nick (August 8, 2005). "Without a Prayer". The Village Voice. Retrieved 2006-08-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ "Keyword Search = Transfiguration". BibleGateway.com. Retrieved 2006-11-29.
  24. ^ "Isaiah 55:12 (New Living Translation)". BibleGateway.com. Retrieved 2006-11-29.
  25. ^ http://asthmatickitty.com/music.php?releaseID=7
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