[rayword45]

Day 152: Illinois by Sufjan Stevens

Drifting along the Tumb- nah I'm not gonna abuse that non-joke in the same week. Besides this is far more Pitchfork than Tumblrcore so that doesn't even make sense. Man I suck.

The peoples say I'll like this album even if Carrie and Lowell brought about equal parts anger and narcolepsy for me. Should I trust the peoples? The same peoples who said "Smashing Pumpkins are a quality band" and "if you like Neutral Milk Hotel then you'll LOVE Bright Eyes" and more crap that ended up being wrong? I dunno I'm just venting for filler.

And this is certainly different. Is this supposed to be ironic? I'm not trying to be negative or anything, but this is so ridiculously overdone it seems like it's meant to be something along the lines of Frank Zappa. It's not bad so far, I'm neither angry nor bored so that's a plus.

There are some moments of glistening beauty where the whispery pretty boy vocals work perfectly. There's an equal amount of moments that seem awfully smirky. For example, no indie folky singer-songwriter ever needs

-High school choirs
-Banjos accompanied by high school choirs
-Lyrics about murdering Native Americans accompanied by high school choirs
-Song titles that exceed 50 words in length
-22 goddamn tracks
-A 40 second track dedicated to isolating and repeating the string section from the prior song (and if it's meant to be a coda it's a sucky coda)
-A 6 second track that consists of applause (actually, nobody ever to exist needs that)

On the other hand, if he's not taking himself too seriously, his irony is superfluous to what are some amazingly gorgeous and/or catchy tunes, and I'm impressed with anyone who can write a song about Religious teenager sexual tension without making me want to die.

I want to judge this album differently if he's being sincere or if he's just pissing out some wimpy hipster jokes, but then I don't know which one is worse. And besides, I shouldn't let the artist affect my perception of the art. Except in the case of Billy Corgan. Screw Billy Corgan.

So, for what it is, this album has maybe 40 percent moments of stunning beauty and then a bunch of filler or songs that are impossible to do anything but groan at. That 40 percent is really good though. Peaks or consistency?

Well, it certainly surpasses both Carrie and Lowell and that atrocious cover art. Also, I realize I'm very likely to return to this. I'll be generous.

Best Track: Jacksonville
Rating: 7/10