Sufjan (SOOF-yon) Stevens (born July 1, 1975 in Detroit, Michigan) is a musician, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Michigan with a fondness for the banjo. His lyrically focused songs deal with subjects such as faith, family and, in the case of Michigan, his observations from living in that state. Stevens has announced plans to make an album for each of the 50 states. Accordingly, his follow up to Seven Swans is titled Illinois.
Sufjan Stevens began his musical career as a member of Marzuki, a folk-rock band from Holland, Michigan. He also played various instruments for The Danielson Famile. While in school at Hope College, Stevens wrote and recorded his debut solo album, A Sun Came, which he released on Asthmatic Kitty Records, a record label he founded with his step-father. He later moved to New York City, where he was enrolled in a writing program at the New School for Social Research.
While in New York, Stevens composed and recorded the music for his second album, Enjoy Your Rabbit, a song cycle based around the animals of the Chinese Zodiac that ventured into electronica.
Stevens followed this with the first of his 50 states albums, a collection of folk songs and instrumentals inspired by his home state of Michigan. The result, the expansive Michigan, included odes to cities including Detroit and Flint, the Upper Peninsula, and vacation areas such as Tahquamenon Falls. Melded into the scenic descriptions and characters are his own declarations of faith in God, sorrow, love and the regeneration of Michigan.
Following the release of Michigan, Stevens compiled a collection of songs recorded previously into a side project, the Christian-folk album Seven Swans, which was released in March 2004.
The 50 States Project
Beginning with Michigan, Stevens announced an intent to write an album for each of the 50 U.S. states, although in interviews he wavers between utter sincerity and self-mocking sarcasm when describing the idea.
Stevens spent the second half of 2004 researching and writing material for the second of these projects, this time focusing his efforts on Illinois, where he has never lived. Among the subjects explored on Illinois are the cities of Chicago, Decatur and Jacksonville, the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, the poet Carl Sandburg, and Mississippi Palisades State Park. As with Michigan, Stevens used the state of Illinois as a leaping-off point for his more personal explorations of faith, family, love, and location. Though slated for general release on July 5, 2005, the album was briefly delayed by legal issues regarding the use of Superman in the original album cover artwork.
Illinois has been widely acclaimed, and as of October 2005, is the highest rated album of the year on the Metacritic review aggregator site, based on glowing reviews from Pitchfork, The Onion A/V Club, Spin, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and The Guardian
The next states to be the topics of albums in the project have been reported as Oregon and Rhode Island.
Studio Releases
* A Sun Came (Asthmatic Kitty, June 13, 2000; re-released July 20, 2004)
* Enjoy Your Rabbit (Asthmatic Kitty, September 17, 2001; re-released June 8, 2004)
* Michigan (Asthmatic Kitty/Sounds Familyre, July 1, 2003; a.k.a. Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lake State)
* Seven Swans (Sounds Familyre, March 16, 2004)
* Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty, July 5, 2005; a.k.a. Come on Feel the Illinoise)
Other Releases
* This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute to The Beatles' Rubber Soul (Compilation) song: "What Goes On" (Razor & Tie, October, 2005)
* Seen/Unseen (Compilation) song: "Damascus" (Absalom Recordings, September 25, 2001)
* Noel! Songs for Christmas - Vol. I (unreleased)
* Hark! Songs for Christmas - Vol. II (unreleased)
* Ding! Dong! Songs for Christmas - Vol. III (unreleased
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