SUFJAN STEVENS – THE AGE OF ADZ
Sufjan Stevens does things in no small measures. Whether or not he was serious about his intention to release an album for each of the 52 United States (starting with Michigan, and crowned by the sprawling technicolor opus Illinoise in 2005), he has certainly left a trail of output that boggles the mind for its expanse and tenacity. Ranging from the spooky, sad, indie-Christian folk album Seven Swans, to his ludicrously brazen instrumental megalith BQE, and now The Age of Adz, wherein Stevens has employed much of his signature harmonies and woodwind squawks, and bound it all together in a mash-up of glitches and breakbeats. This latest album’s crowning achievement is its finale, a staggering 25-minute epic Impossible Soul. Here Sufjan prophesizes about the disappointments and joys of long life with an urban-gospel intensity that is none short of hypnotizing. Vesuvius prays to some sort of god of cataclysm with its rousing, upsetting choral rounds and distorted percussion. It has its moments of synth-pop, and a cocktail of bittersweet melodics with ear-piercing digital chop-ups. Most audiences will be polarized by this album, compelled into repeat listens to try and decode its cracked brilliance.
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