Sufjan Stevens- Age of Adz

Age of Adz- Sufjan Stevens (Asthmatic Kitty)

Most of us know Sufjan Stevens as a creator of mellow, indie-folk and orchestral rock, poetic ballads that frequently feature a softly plucked banjo or the soaring sounds of a violin. Those familiar with his music likely know his most popular album, Come on Feel the Illinoise, part of an undertaking by Stevens to write an album for each of the fifty states. With the release of Stevens’s newest album, The Age of Adz, it is clear that he has abandoned not only his states project, but also his entire approach to songwriting.

Released in November, The Age of Adz (pronounced “odds”) is an amalgam of musical styles and strays far from the acoustic, symphonic, lyrically-focused Sufjan we know. It opens in the familiar Sufjan style: softly sung lyrics over acoustic guitar, sprinkled with piano. But as the album progresses, it seems to grow conspicuously louder, bolder, brassier, more electronic, and less lyrical. The highlight of the album is the title track, a flawless hybrid of his newer and older styles: it utilizes some musical structure and instrumentation that alludes to his earlier works, in addition to electronic sounds and effects. The nadir of the album, on the other hand, is “Too Much.” A not-so-seamless attempt to synthesize an electronic aesthetic to his classic style, this track sounds clumsy and awkward. Another weak point is the final track, “Impossible Soul,” of which some parts are mesmerizing and others utterly painful. A valiant effort, this 25 minute piece features heavy use of effect pedals, synthesizers, what sounds like 8-bit tones, and (to my dismay) the autotune.

But where did this drastic change originate? The work of any young composer is bound to grow and evolve over time. Such change was foreshadowed by Stevens’ 2009 release, The BQE. Strictly instrumental, The BQE is a symphony dedicated to New York’s Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. In an interview with BeatRoute, Stevens said “[The BQE] kinda sabotaged the mechanical way of approaching my music.” However, although BQE shows musical growth, it does not apparently lead into Adz; in fact, Adz seems to share more similarities with Stevens’s previous albums. The explanation, says stevens, is that the new album was heavily influenced by an illness which affected his nervous system, leaving him unable to work on new music. “The Age of Adz, is, in some ways, a result of that process of working through health issues and getting much more in touch with my physical self. That's why I think the record's really obsessed with sensation and has a hysterical melodrama to it,” said Stevens in an interview with Exclaim!. In the same interview, he used words like “debilitating,” “confusing,” “bizarre,” and “mysterious,” to describe the experience, loaded words which make sense in the context of the new album.

Complex and multi-faceted, The Age of Adz is not for the casual listener (nor the Stevens purist). But, deep within Stevens’s new form is a uniquely beautiful musical product.