Sauw’s Corner: Where in the world is Sufjan Stevens? (cue the Rockapella)

In 2005, a singer/songwriter by the name of Sufjan Stevens exploded onto the music scene with the release of an album called Illinois, the second step in a self-proclaimed effort to make an album for every state in the United States (already having checked off Michigan). Before it’s release, Stevens had begun to quickly garner an avid following after having released a wealth of delicate and gripping, banjo-driven compositions that spanned over four albums from 2000-2004. With Illinois, Stevens shed some of his Christian-rock label by brilliantly chronicling much of the state’s history through beautifully layered and orchestrated pop-rock music. The album secured a spot at the top of the majority of critics’ year-end Top 10 lists, and many people began to realize that the album marked the arrival of a new force in the music community that didn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.

So now I sit here and wonder (as I have wondered often throughout this year and last) why Sufjan hasn’t released an album of new material for almost 2 ½ years. The person that I once saw as being one of the most prolific artists of this decade (releasing five fantastic albums from 2000-2005) now seems to be in a bit of a standstill. I understand that he did have two releases in 2006, but both were collections of unreleased material that had been written previously. The first was released in July of that year called The Avalanche: Outtakes & Extras from the Illinois Album…whose title is pretty self-explanatory. The other was titled Songs For Christmas, which was a wonderful collection of 5 EPs released in November that spanned 42 tracks and were either covers or self-written Christmas songs he had been churning out consistently over the years.

After doing some in-depth investigating (i.e. Google searching), it’s obvious that Sufjan hasn’t just been lying around for the last 2 ½ years doing nothing. He has actually contributed to a large number of other artists’ efforts, adding various instrumentation touches on songs for artists such as The National, Rosie Thomas, Ben + Vesper, and David Garland. In addition, he’s covered a few classic tunes that have been featured on very good compilations (playing Dylan’s “Ring Them Bells” for the I’m Not There Soundtrack, Mitchell’s “A Free Man In Paris” on A Tribute to Joni Mitchell, and Tim Buckley’s “She Is” for Dream Brother: The Songs of Jeff & Tim Buckley).

I guess I should also acknowledge the remarkable work he produced with his symphonic endeavor titled “BQE”, a salute to the history of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway which runs through his current residence of Brooklyn. The project ended up becoming a 30-minute orchestrated piece (without any vocals), and featured a 36-person orchestra who performed the piece three nights in a row in November of 2007 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Okay, so maybe Sufjan has been keeping himself busy over the past couple years. But I’m sure I’m not alone in my lack of patience for the release of an entirely new, probably state-dedicated album. Despite becoming a surging singer/songwriter on the independent scene recently, he’s somehow still able to fly under the radar and retain his reclusive tendencies. Perhaps this gap in his output has been beneficial in stopping him from overexposing himself, or maybe he’s spending all of this time to create a work that's even more ambitious than his last (if that’s possible). Whatever the case is, I think it’s about time that Sufjan ends this torturous waiting game once and for all. Come on Sufjan, feel the malaise!