There's been a little bit of buzz in the indie community due to the recent release of Sufjan Steven's followup to 2005's acclaimed Illinoise, Paste Magazine's best album of the decade. Despite fans' cries for a new album based on one of the fifty states of the union (a goal announced by Stevens back in the day after the release of Michigan), we instead have ourselves an incredibly divisive album that all but abandons Sufjan's previous banjo-pluckin' style. And although Age of Adz sounds completely new and fresh for the now-veteran artist, one of Steven's earlier albums, A Sun Came, utilized much of the same glitchy, blippy sound that dominates this new piece of work.
Take a listen to hear for yourself what kind of sound I'm talking about. With the exception of the first track and the last part of the final track, the entire album sounds pretty similar. There may be a slump of disappointment from some of Stevens' fans who only jumped on the bandwagon after hearing Illinoise, but if there's one thing we learn from delving into the entirety of Stevens' catalogue it's this: he's going to compose the music that pleases him. Indie royalty typically own this privilege.
I really like the album, but I'm not sure I'm ready to love it. I'll have to give it some time, but I definitely recommend this album to indie music fans and especially fans of his prior works. Pitchfork was a little more gracious and detailed in their review, and you can check out what they had to say about it here. I won't be offended if you implicitly trust their judgment over mine. In the end it's a great album that you should check out. It's also incredibly inexpensive over at Bandcamp.
7/10
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