Sufjan Stevens - Michigan. 2LP
Composed as a geographical tone poem, MICHIGAN follows a metaphysical expedition through the idiosyncrasies of middle America. Drawing from personal anecdote, regional history, and state heritage, Stevens mixes social and political grievances with songs about snowmobiles, Henry Ford, the Detroit race riots, and love.
MICHIGAN's songs resonate with a range of sources-Vince Guaraldi, Terry Riley, and Nick Drake as accompanied by Stereolab and The Sea & Cake-in executing Stevens' peculiar palette that is simultaneously rock and blue-grass, jazz and pop, a style The Village Voice appraises as "Arthur Lee meets the Book of Psalms."
In MICHIGAN, Stevens combines intimate, soft-spoken songwriting with the dense compositional complexity displayed on his previous release ENJOY YOUR
RABBIT, which XLR8R called "...a transgressive, majestic album conjuring an academic jam session of Stereolab and Luke Vibert conducted by Steve Reich."
Tracklist
Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid)
All Good Naysayers, Speak Up! or Forever Hold Your Peace!
For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti
Say Yes! to M!Ch!Gan!
Upper Peninsula
Tahquamenon Falls
Holland
Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)
Romulus
Alanson, Crooked River
Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie
They Also Mourn Who Do Not Wear Black (For the Homeless in Muskegon)
Oh God, Where Are You Now? (In Pickeral Lake? Pigeon? Marquette?...)
Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)
Vito's Ordination Song
