Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise - 1xCD

Asthmatic Kitty announces the second installment of Sufjan Stevens' 50 State Project, “ILLINOIS”,a 22-track anthematic tone poem to The Prairie State.Following the 2003 collection of songs for his home state, "Michigan," Stevens presents anemphatic answer to the question: Can a songwriter express the spirit of a state he's never calledhome? With his most enterprising project to date—the result of extensive research, travel, meditation,and countless days and nights in the studio—admirers of his previous work and first time listenerswill agree that the answer is yes.On this second state tour, Sufjan weaves variegated musical styles (jazz, funk, pop) and instrumentaltextures (from oboe to church organ) into a tapestry of persons famous, infamous, andanonymous, and places iconic, obscure, and ghostly. Did you know there is 15-foot bronze statue ofSuperman in the Ohio River town of Metropolis? Where many might see only kitsch, Sufjan finds atouchstone for a tender-yet-rocking meditation on