shuffling the songs to stumble to sufjan

Alright, hold up. Let me explain something that I just discovered. Summer+ homelessness+ everybody and their mother giving me new music every single day = me not being able to rediscover my iTunes library. This whole project began when I realized that I don’t think I’ve listened to all of the music I own, and today I go back on track. No more new stuff for a while. SO without further ado, I am going to hit shuffle on my iTunes library and whatever comes up is what I’m writing about. Druuuuuum roll please… Sufjan Stevens it is. I was really hoping for Backstreet Boys or something embarrassing...nerds. 56 seconds into “Ya Leil” on Sufjan’s album A Sun Came! is good tunes. I’m digging whatever kind of music this is, it sounds like it belongs on a soundtrack for a Wes Anderson movie.

Sufjan is a musician's musician. He plays a reported 14 “instruments” according to Pitchfork magazine, primarily the banjo, guitar, piano… and he sings. Listed among his many instruments are the lesser known stapler and stationary floor fan, but I’m down as long as he’s rocking it.

His vocals have an Iron and Wine, Simon and Garfunkel kind of funky folkiness, while the instrumentation goes off the deep end in the background. The album is highly experimental, and viciously ambitious for a debut- it’s like he wants you to know every single thing that he is capable of so you can brace yourself for the work to come. He takes chances, playing with what he refers to as “traditional pop music, medieval instrumentation with Middle Eastern inflections, tape loops, digital samples, literary vocals, manic percussion, woodwinds, sitar, amp distortion and Arabic chants". It’s a mish mosh of sound that blends pretty well together, without seeming forced or arrogant. When viewed in this light, Sufjan is masterful in his debut. He keeps you guessing with his musical variety, even covering electro-pop on "Joy! Joy! Joy!", and taking a stab at Flight of the Conchords-esque comedy with “Super Sexy Woman”. It’s over an hour of a musical experience that doesn’t ever get boring or predictable, and that is something worth listening to.

My favorite track-"Happy Birthday". Soulful. Poetic. Minimal. Come on- it's called Happy Birthday, how bad could it be? Just try it, just for a second, just to see how it feels. Peace out -The Homeless College Grad "Why would a reviewer make the point of saying someone's not a genius?" --Eli Cash

"Sufjan: I've always wanted to be a writer but I can't seem to really do it. Pitchfork: Well, your fallback has worked out so far. Sufjan: Yeah, Plan B has worked out fine. " -- Interview by Jason Crock 5.15.2006 If you like like I like, try: Iron & Wine's Our Endless Numbered Days, Simon and Garfunkel's Bookends, The Velvet Underground's The V.U. and Nico and V.U. , Nico's Chelsea Girl, Of Montreal's Satanic Panic in the Attic, Damien Rice's O, José González's Veneer, or The Shins' Chutes Too Narrow or Wincing the Night Away