Second Act
Chamber-folk darling shows flashes of brilliance
By WILL HERMES

Stevens: roll, indie state, roll

SUFJAN STEVENS
The Avalanche ***
ASTHMATIC KITTY

Avalanche is right. A year ago, this bookish, spiritual-leaning, New York-based chamber folkie released Illinois (a.k.a. Come on Feel the Illinoise), the second in his proposed 50-disc set (!) of state-themed CDs. Verbose, full of glee-club
choruses and a gazillion instruments, it wound up on many year-end best-of lists. Now comes this 70-plus-minute set of “Outtakes and Extras,” taken from the Illinois sessions.

The approach is basically the same: civics-class impressionism blended with memoirish melancholy and some goofiness, like a high school history project by a gang of overachieving musical-theater geeks. Remarkably, the songs on Avalanche are nearly as good as the ones on Illinois, although with surprising synth bursts and craggy guitar noise that were sand-papered off of its predecessor. Stevens includes three alternate versions of Illinois’ standout, “Chicago.” But the move doesn’t feel redundant, which speaks to his melodic craft and his ambitiously odd arrangements, all built bit by bit, primarily from instruments he plays himself.

Stevens’ work ethic is admirable, but is he risking burnout? Maybe the next state project should be tiny Rhode Island? Really, dude, relax. What about an EP?

DOWNLOAD: “Chicago (Acoustic Version),” “Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in his Hair”