Bio
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Sufjan Stevens heralds new album “Illinois” on Asthmatic Kitty Records… under his wrist the pulse, under his ribs the heart of the people, Laughing! Like the self-proclaimed “Spiderman” who climbed Chicago’s Sears Tower with no harness, Sufjan Stevens scales dusty prairies, steel factories, and two hundred years of history to produce his newest album “Illinois” on home label Asthmatic Kitty. Invoking the muse of poet Carl Sandburg (and the musical flourishes of Rodgers and Hammerstein), “Illinois” ushers in trumpets on parade, string quartets, female choruses and ambient piano scales arranged around Stevens’ emerging falsetto. Whereas 2003’s “Michigan” (the inaugural album of “The 50 States” project) was rooted in memory, and 2004’s “Seven Swans” was rooted in the spirit, “Illinois” is rooted in “the world, in society, invention, civilization, in disease, in death, in education, in business,” says Stevens. And unlike “Seven Swans,” Stevens surmounted the heights of “Illinois” solo, employing guest musicians but recording, engineering, and producing the album entirely on his own (mostly at the Buddy Project in Queens, New York).
Read full bio at Fanatic Promotion.
The Official Sufjan Stevens Biography, from the horse’s mouth, as transcribed by monastic monks, written in third person is available at Asthmatic Kitty.
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Photo and list courtesy of Andreas Klangberg.