Sufjan Stevens - Illinois

Release Date:11/22/2005;Notes:A 22-track anthematic tone poem to the Prairie State, emphatically answering the question, "Can a songwriter express the spirit of a state he's never called home?" Sufjan weaves various musical styles (jazz, funk, pop) and instrumental textures into a tapestry of persons famous, infamous, and anonymous, and places iconic, obscure, and ghostly. Myths, memories, and incidental anecdotes are swept up with symphonic flourishes. Implementing 25 instruments, played mostly by Sufjan himself, a two-handed horn section, string quartet and small choir, Illinois conjures up images of Danny Elfman conducting a Gilbert and Sullivan company, a minimalist ensemble, and the Marion Catholic Marching Band on a windswept prairie football field. Asthmatic Kitty. 2005.;Track List:1. Concerning the Ufo Sighting Near Highland Illinois;2. Black Hawk War or How to Demolish An Entire Civilization and;3. Come on! Feel the Illinoise!: Pt. 1: The World's Columbian Exposition;4. John Wayne Gacy JR;5. Jacksonville;6. Short Reprise for Mary Todd Who Went Insane But for Very Good;7. Decatur or Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!;8. One Last "Whoo-Hoo!" for the Pullman;9. Chicago;10. Casimir Pulaski Day;11. To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region I Have An Idea;12. Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts;13. Prairie Fire That Wanders About;14. Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens;15. Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!;16. They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from;17. Let's Hear That String Part Again Because I Don't Think They Heard It;18. In This Temple As in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth;19. Seer's Tower;20. Tallest Man the Broadest Shoulders: Pt. 1: The Great Frontier/Pt.;21. Riffs and Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll Earl Hines;22. Out of Egypt Into the Great Laugh of Mankind and I Shake the