oh god, where are you now?
Sufjan Stevens: John Wayne Gacy Jr.
This song should be hosted by NPR's quasi-stellar All Songs Considered, a short, weekly feature of All Things Considered, for a while. To say that the songs I've heard off of Sufjan's forthcoming album, Come On Feel the Illinoise, have been bad would not be entirely accurate. In fact, this song isn't bad. But still, with "John Wayne Gacy Jr." and the rest of his new material, there has been something vaguely dissatisfying. While pleasingly melodic and lushly instrumented, Stevens' new stuff lacks on another arena. The second product of the infamous plan to release an album for all 50 stars on the flag, Cum on Feel the IL-e finds us face to face with a facetious and slapdash artist. In the above song, Stevens results to a form of literal story-telling, practically singing from a newspaper story about Gacy's childhood and later crimes. It makes for a chilling chorus, but disappointing verses. On Greetings from Michigan and Seven Swans, the lovely duo of albums which seem guaranteed to be known as "the good ones," the songs came from a different place. Both dealt with topics - Stevens' home state and his religious faith - which provided for some of the most beautiful moments in current music. When writing autobiographically, Stevens has prooved fearless and infinitely interesting. Oh well, at least it's still better than this.
This song should be hosted by NPR's quasi-stellar All Songs Considered, a short, weekly feature of All Things Considered, for a while. To say that the songs I've heard off of Sufjan's forthcoming album, Come On Feel the Illinoise, have been bad would not be entirely accurate. In fact, this song isn't bad. But still, with "John Wayne Gacy Jr." and the rest of his new material, there has been something vaguely dissatisfying. While pleasingly melodic and lushly instrumented, Stevens' new stuff lacks on another arena. The second product of the infamous plan to release an album for all 50 stars on the flag, Cum on Feel the IL-e finds us face to face with a facetious and slapdash artist. In the above song, Stevens results to a form of literal story-telling, practically singing from a newspaper story about Gacy's childhood and later crimes. It makes for a chilling chorus, but disappointing verses. On Greetings from Michigan and Seven Swans, the lovely duo of albums which seem guaranteed to be known as "the good ones," the songs came from a different place. Both dealt with topics - Stevens' home state and his religious faith - which provided for some of the most beautiful moments in current music. When writing autobiographically, Stevens has prooved fearless and infinitely interesting. Oh well, at least it's still better than this.
posted by mrboots at 8:39 PM
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