Sufjan Stevens

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Sufjan Stevens
Stevens in concert at the Pabst Theater in 2006.
Background information
Born	Detroit, Michigan
Genre(s)	Folk, Indie rock, Experimental, Baroque Pop
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Banjo, Guitar, Piano, Various Others.
Years active	1999 – present
Label(s)	Orchard, Asthmatic Kitty
Associated acts	Marzuki
Website	www.sufjan.com

Sufjan Stevens (IPA pronunciation: [ˈsuf jɑn]) (born July 1, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and musician from Michigan. He is known for his lyrically focused and instrumentally rich songs that often relate to faith and family. Stevens 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] and the minimalism of Steve Reich.^[2] Stevens has announced plans to make a concept album for each of the 50 U.S. states, having begun the series with Michigan (2003) and Illinois (2005).

Contents 1 Background 2 Career 2.1 The Fifty States Project 2.2 Christian themes 3 Discography 3.1 Studio releases 3.2 Other releases 4 Samples 5 Allusions and inclusions in other media 6 References 6.1 Further reading 7 External links

[edit] Background

Stevens was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Petoskey.^[3] He attended Hope College in Holland, 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.^[4] Stevens said once in an interview, "It sounds like Devendra [Banhart] kind of grew up in this strange kind of cultish environment, and I don't mean that word in a demeaning way. I think we probably come from similar backgrounds. There's a little bit of that in my history."^[5] Stevens has stated that his name is of Armenian origin and means "comes with a sword," and that it is "a charming militaristic Muslim name."^[6]

A multi-instrumentalist, Stevens is well known for his use of the banjo, but also plays 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. A multitude of instruments are played in unison to give it a "symphony-like" effect. Stevens currently lives in the Brooklyn borough of New York City^[7] where he makes up the Asthmatic Kitty Records staff of the Brooklyn office.^[8]

[edit] Career

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, Chicago's observance of a holiday in honor of Casimir Pulaski, 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, Rosie Thomas and Liz Janes. He has contributed covers of Tim Buckley,Jeff Buckley, Joni Mitchell, and The Beatles to various tribute albums.

Over the 2005 winter holidays, Sufjan recorded an album with Rosie Thomas and Denison Witmer playing banjo and providing vocals. 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] In December 2006, the collaborative recordings were digitally released by Nettwerk as a Rosie Thomas album entitled These Friends Of Mine. The album was released in physical form on March 13, 2007.

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.

[edit] The Fifty States Project

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. Stevens made brief mention to a possible collaboration with Asthmatic Kitty labelmate Rafter on an album about California^[18] in a recent interview. Sufjan also recorded "The Lord God Bird"^[19] about the ivory-billed woodpecker rediscovered in Arkansas (known as the 'lord god' or 'great god' bird because of its breathtaking appearance). This was 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.^[20] 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)."

[edit] Christian themes

Many of Stevens's songs have religious and spiritual allusions. He is a Christian and attends a church that he describes as "a kind of Anglo-Catholic church"^[21], but he has stated that he does not try to make 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]

On the album Seven Swans, 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 . In 'Abraham', Sufjan recounts the Old Testament story in the Book of Genesis. The lyrics of 'The Transfiguration' follow the Biblical accounts of Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9: 1-8, and Luke 9:28-36.^[23] The title of 'All The Trees Of The Fields Will Clap Their Hands' is a quote from Isaiah 55:12.^[24]

Michigan and Illinois include many 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, 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!" "The Seer's Tower" speaks of Emanuel, "With His sword, with His robe He comes dividing man from brothers". "The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders" references the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ ("the Spirit, the Carpenter/invites us to be with her"), and the year of Jubilee ("I count the days the Great Frontier/Forgiving, faced the seventh year").

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 such as: Away in a Manger, Amazing Grace, O Holy Night, and I Saw Three Ships.

[edit] Discography

[edit] 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.

[edit] Other releases

• These Friends of Mine an album by Rosie Thomas that Sufjan performs and produces on. (Sub Pop Records, December 12, 2006)
• The Sound the Hare Heard (compilation) song: "Adlai Stevenson" (Kill Rock Stars, May 9, 2006)
• See You on the Moon! Songs for Kids of All Ages (Paper Bag Records compilation) song: "The Friendly Beasts" (Paper Bag, March 21, 2006)
• I Am the Resurrection: A Tribute to John Fahey (compilation) song: "Variation on 'Commemorative Transfiguration & Communion at Magruder Park'" (Vanguard, February 14, 2006)
• Mews Too: An Asthmatic Kitty Compilation song: "Opie's Funeral Song" (Asthmatic Kitty, February 7, 2006)
• Dream Brother: Tribute to Tim and Jeff Buckley (compilation) song: "She Is" (Full Time Hobby, October 3, 2005)
• This Bird Has Flown - A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul (compilation) song: "What Goes On" (Razor & Tie, October, 2005)
• Song: "The Lord God Bird" from the National Public Radio website (July 6, 2005)
• Song: "To Be Alone With You" on Music from the OC: Mix 4 (2005 · Warner Bros./Wea)
• The Dress Looks Nice on You (7" vinyl-Only Single) (Rough Trade, 2004)
• Seen/Unseen (compilation) song: "Damascus" (Absalom Recordings, September 25, 2001)
• Noel! Songs for Christmas - Vol. I (unreleased, 2001) (officially released in 2006 on Songs for Christmas)
• Hark! Songs for Christmas - Vol. II (unreleased, 2002) (officially released in 2006 on Songs for Christmas)
• Ding! Dong! Songs for Christmas - Vol. III (unreleased, 2003) (officially released in 2006 on Songs for Christmas)
• Michigan Outtakes (first available for free mp3 download on Sufjan's website; now included on the vinyl version of Michigan)^[25]
• 8.21. a blue bunny compilation (2000 Blue Bunny Records)"Woman at the Well," "(Year of the) Ox," and "Far Physician's Son."
• Eye of the Beholder Vol.1 (compilation) "All Delighted People" (Track 8)
• To Spirit Back The Mews (Asthmatic Kitty Records label compilation) "The First Full Moon" (Track 5), "God'll Ne'er Let You Down" (Track 17), "Bushwick Junkie" (Track 28), "I Can't Even Lift My Head" (Track 35)
• Hope Isn't a Word (compilation) song: "Borderline" (Comes With a Smile, Autumn 2004)

[edit] Samples

• A complete MP3 of "Holland" (from Michigan) is available for download from the Asthmatic Kitty Records website.
• A complete MP3 of "Lord God Bird", which debuted on All Things Considered, is available for download from the website of National Public Radio.
• A complete FLAC and VBR MP3 live recording of "Many Guides" from the compilation Recordings from CKLN's 'Wired for Sound': 2001-2002 is available from Archive.org.
• Listen to the "Songs for Christmas" box set, Streaming on Asthmatic Kitty's web site.

[edit] 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 been featured four times on the FOX television show The O.C.: "To Be Alone With You", "For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti", "Dear Mr. Supercomputer", and "The Incarnation" can be heard on episodes 202, 315, 411, and 415, 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.

• "Holland" appears on Season 2, episode 10 of Weeds

• "Chicago", from Illinois, and "No Man's Land", from The Avalanche, appear on the soundtrack to the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine, "Chicago" also appeared on the second trailer.

• "Chicago" also appears on an ident screened on Five US, a digital free-to-air in the United Kingdom.

• "O God Where Are You Now" was covered by the 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 Corporation (CBC) Radio One has used several samples from Illinois in various programs

• Stevens was featured on an episode of the PBS television program Austin City Limits

• Fictional character Jim Halpert from the The Office (US TV series) lists "Chicago" from "Illinois" as one of his favorite music picks on the iTunes Music Store.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Powell, Mark Allan (2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, First printing, Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 875. ISBN 1-56563-679-1. 

[edit] External links

• Sufjan Stevens - official site
• Asthmatic Kitty - label page
• Sounds Familyre - label page
• All Good Naysayers, Speak Up! - informative fan site
• SufjanFans.com - interactive message board

Albums by Sufjan Stevens
A Sun Came (2000) · Enjoy Your Rabbit (2001) · Michigan (2003) · Seven Swans (2004) Illinois (2005) · The Avalanche (2006) · Songs for Christmas (2006)