This album is like a bouquet of exotic, delicate flowers, half of which you don't know their names, but you know they're beautiful, and you enjoy their aromas. Most of the music in my collection I...
This album is like a bouquet of exotic, delicate flowers, half of which you don't know their names, but you know they're beautiful, and you enjoy their aromas. Most of the music in my collection I approach with a somewhat detached interest, but Sufjan is one of those artists who strikes right to the bone, especially an album like this, one in which he meditates on the failures of his mother and the guilt he cannot help but feel. Like, if he'd been a better boy, she might have loved him. Which of course is bullshit. And then there's the fact that this album is ostensibly about Michigan. Well, at least it drops a lot of place names. Names I know very well, since I grew up there. So, again, Sufjan is making his music quite personal for me. This is all apart from religious considerations that surround me like a bright cloud at all times. By the way, Michigan is known, of course, for its Great Lakes, but lemme tell ya: there are lakes everywhere in Michigan.
That’s a pretty spot on analogy. Actually, relistening to the album, some of the songs really have that Charlie Brown Christmas vibe.
Michigan sounds for all the world like a small-town Christmas pageant directed by some kind of sober, analytical, wide-eyed choirboy genius bleeding his private obsessions and neuroses into the work
That’s a pretty spot on analogy. Actually, relistening to the album, some of the songs really have that Charlie Brown Christmas vibe.
Absolutely adore this album. It's generally more subdued than Illinois but just as emotionally powerful. Just gonna leave this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4tkiGvV_ek
Absolutely adore this album. It's generally more subdued than Illinois but just as emotionally powerful.
I remember when this album came out. It fully deserved the positive reviews it received at the time which is what drew me towards an album I might easily have overlooked. It quickly became one of...
I remember when this album came out. It fully deserved the positive reviews it received at the time which is what drew me towards an album I might easily have overlooked. It quickly became one of my favourites and, as the review stated, was hard to find similar-sounding artists/albums at the time. My first listen of 'Illinois' had me realize that he was actually able to reproduce elements that made 'Michigan' such a great album but then was able to take it to another level. He got me within the first 5 minutes. Over time, while I love the highs of 'Illinois', 'Michigan' is one I can listen to beginning-to-end without skipping any tracks and has a distinct vibe that I much prefer.
This album is like a bouquet of exotic, delicate flowers, half of which you don't know their names, but you know they're beautiful, and you enjoy their aromas. Most of the music in my collection I approach with a somewhat detached interest, but Sufjan is one of those artists who strikes right to the bone, especially an album like this, one in which he meditates on the failures of his mother and the guilt he cannot help but feel. Like, if he'd been a better boy, she might have loved him. Which of course is bullshit. And then there's the fact that this album is ostensibly about Michigan. Well, at least it drops a lot of place names. Names I know very well, since I grew up there. So, again, Sufjan is making his music quite personal for me. This is all apart from religious considerations that surround me like a bright cloud at all times. By the way, Michigan is known, of course, for its Great Lakes, but lemme tell ya: there are lakes everywhere in Michigan.
That’s a pretty spot on analogy. Actually, relistening to the album, some of the songs really have that Charlie Brown Christmas vibe.
If Michigan gives you a Charlie Brown Christmas vibe you should hear his Christmas box sets.
Every Christmas! I see you, too, are a Christmas unicorn!
Absolutely adore this album. It's generally more subdued than Illinois but just as emotionally powerful.
Just gonna leave this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4tkiGvV_ek
I remember when this album came out. It fully deserved the positive reviews it received at the time which is what drew me towards an album I might easily have overlooked. It quickly became one of my favourites and, as the review stated, was hard to find similar-sounding artists/albums at the time. My first listen of 'Illinois' had me realize that he was actually able to reproduce elements that made 'Michigan' such a great album but then was able to take it to another level. He got me within the first 5 minutes. Over time, while I love the highs of 'Illinois', 'Michigan' is one I can listen to beginning-to-end without skipping any tracks and has a distinct vibe that I much prefer.