Sufjian’s Wings
Sufjan Stevens is one of those great musicians who transcends labels. I believe if the man wanted to, he could start scoring films like Little Miss Sunshine or he could start writing twangy country music as naturally befits his project to make an album homage to each of 50 United States. His recent visit to the Wiltern Theater showed that the man has the ego and imagination for such feats. I mean the guy was wearing wings…you don’t do that unless you have confidence that it’s going to fly.
But spread his wings he can. In a much talked about track from last year’s Illinois, Sufjian does his best Steve Reich imitation. For sanity’s sake, I’ve put the track’s title below. What makes this song great is that it not only sounds like vintage Steve Reich (think Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices, and Organ), but it also works really well as an album closer. Too bad for him, Steve Reich shuffled between New York and California, never really stopping in Illinois unlike his colleague Philip Glass who studied at the University of Chicago. Hopefully when Sufjian does California, we’ll get more homages to the West Coast minimalists.
Out Of Egypt, Into The Great Laugh Of Mankind, And I Shake The Dirt From My Sandals As I Run (mp3) - Sufjian Stevens Buy
