Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche (Rough Trade)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
So he's got to write an album about every one of the fifty states that make up North America. And he's got forty eight left to do. Surely now is not the time to release seventy six minute long outtakes album? Back to work, Sufjan!
'The Avalanche', consisting as it does of extras, alternative takes and still beloved cast offs from the 'Come on Feel the Illinoise' album, points further towards Sufjan Stevens being perhaps the most prolific, imaginative songwriter of recent times. The idea that he's now devoted his entire career to musically documenting each one of the United States of America is a fascinating one. The further idea that, after the 22 track original LP, there remains another twenty one tracks of supplementary material is, frankly, bonkers.
But apart from 'The Avalanche' being an inspirational curiosity, why should one buy it? It is, after all, merely an '...Illinoise' companion, intriguing only to those familiar with the father work, the place where any person first exploring his craft should primarily alight. Reasons, then, for purchase; one - possession is mandatory for anyone with an unshakable love of 'Chicago' - the '...Illinoise' highlight crops up no less than three times here, in its 'Acoustic', 'Adult Contemporary Easy Listening' and 'Multiple Personality Disorder' versions. Two - if you really love 'Come on Feel the Illinoise' - nothing could act as a better accompaniment to the majesty of that still baffling achievement. Three - if you sincerely adore Illinois itself, and one album dedicated to the state that gave us both Abraham Lincoln and Steve Albini just isn't enough. Four - if you're a Sufjan completist (although, bear in mind before becoming one that it has been estimated that if he releases one album a year, the 'states' project will only be completed around 2053. Don't know about you, but I actually can't picture living that long). Five - just because it's a remarkably good record, regardless of what it's made up of.
Really, if Sufjan had offered this up as his musical take on whichever state he decides to tackle next, there'd be few heard to complain. Surely with some tweaking, something so delicately tuneful as the title track could be assigned to another state? 'Adlai Stevenson' could be renamed to apply to someone from the Bronx? Can we pretend we didn't hear the infectious brass parps of 'They Henney Buggy Band' and the gleeful skips and hops of 'Your Land' so that they can be utilised for a more wide scale release? Or would that be missing the point?
Of course, it's an extras record, so there are momentary glimpses of something that might count as superfluous - 'Undivided Self', 'Pluto', 'Tornado', 'Inagural Music' and 'Vivian' all relatively similar and slightly unnecessary momentary instrumental interludes that add little to 'The Avalanche' or your concept of 'Come on Feel the Illinoise'. But these be only five tracks in a generous twenty one. The rest are all killer, no filler. And for an album of outtakes from an already generously proportioned primary release, that's really quite a feat.
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