Sufjan Stevens
Illinoise
Asthmatic Kitty Records
on this baroque-pop classic, The lush (yet still distinctly lo-fi) indie pop melodies draw as much from classic rock as they do progressive folk.
there's a newfound optimism that runs through much of 'Illinois' that echoes the state's "Gateway to the West" pioneering spirit. Glorious road trip-ready cuts like 'The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts', 'Come On! Feel the Illinoise!' & 'Chicago' have an expansiveness that radiates with the ballast of history & the promise of new beginnings. 'Jacksonville', with its 4-chord banjo lurch, mines 'Old Man'-era Neil Young, disco strings dance around 'They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!', while the rousing pre-finale 'The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders' is pure Peanuts-infused Vince Guaraldi as filtered through the ambiguous kaleidoscope of Danielson Famile spiritualism.
