Triple J: Feature Album Of The Week

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois


Sufjan Stevens continues his 50 States project with the state of Illinois and the album has already been described as "Album Of The Year" by Pitchfork plus on a personal note, it's my favourite album of the year so far. Illinois is beautiful folk music, amazing acoustic ballads, gorgeous orchestral tracks. 74 minutes over 22 tracks of perfection; if you haven't caught the Sufjan buzz yet, now is the time.

Sidenote: The album is pushed back for release in the US because of a dispute with the cover art that originally had a Superman on the cover. DC Comics who own the trademark copyright are not impress (more about that here). However, it is already out now in Australia (via Spunk! Records) with the Superman on the cover and in Adelaide, Big Star Records stock them and are available in limited copies. Collector's item? I got mine.

Starting this Friday, you get to hear all the tracks from the album at various times for 1 week on Triple J, which you can listen to live online here.

The album is out now.

Official Website