Sufjan Stevens | Tragic Comedy

Scott Hardie | November 6, 2009
Stevens has been getting a lot of love lately, like Paste Magazine naming Illinois the best album of the decade. (link) This renewed attention reminds me just how out of the loop I felt about the album itself, which apparently is some kind of masterwork that everybody loves except me. The dense references to my home state are fun to recognize, and I can dig a few songs like "Casimir Pulaski Day," but most of the album is so pretentious and painfully twee that it becomes an endurance test to make it more than a few minutes in. It grates on my ears. Maybe indie folk just isn't for me.

I know of at least two huge Stevens fans here in TC, so here's asking: What am I missing about this album? Why should I give it another try, or other people give it a first try?

Samir Mehta | November 6, 2009
[hidden by request]

Denise Sawicki | November 7, 2009
I like it pretty much. I admit I haven't exactly been motivated enough to make a study of every song but the album has a nice flow and I am particularly drawn to "John Wayne Gacy" and "Casimir Pulaski Day". I can see Scott's point though about it being pretentious and overly twee. "Pretentious" and "twee" are really the two words I'd use to describe it, except, I don't think those things are always bad haha :). I haven't listened to a whole lot of music this particular decade but I am just pleased that the supposed "best album of the decade" is at least something I kind of like.