Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz (2010)

When I read that this album was going to be mostly electronic, it really took away any anticipation I previously had. All the Sufjan I love is all organic with acoustic guitars and banjos n shit, synths are for the young'ns and eventually our robot overlords, right? Well, actually, it's a nice change of pace and really shows Sufjan's evolution as an artist. The melodies are still there. Sufjan as a singer hasn't gotten any worse. Different, sure. Alright, so what do we have here song-wise, because I'm out of anything of worth to say about the album as a whole in the opening sentences? Well, Futile Devices and Vesuvius are probably the closest to traditional Sufjan you're going to get here. The former's a brief, great opener, which I feel lame comparing to Concerning the UFO Sighting, but will do anyway, while the latter always has me belting out the choir parts by the end. There's Too Much, which reminds me of Toro y Moi for some reason (minus the ending). Age of Adz and I Walked back to back is great. I Want to Be Well is the last highlight until...

Impossible Soul feels like it takes up 1/4th of the album. Mostly because it does. Covering 25 minutes and five movements, it may be my favorite song on the album. The first two movements are all fine and dandy, Sufjan sings about his women issues and we learn the plights of being afaid, respectively. Then we get to the third, which is largely based on autotune. I'd love to be able to talk about how 'Oh, just because it's autotune doesn't mean it's bad, Sufjan's someone who knows how to use it to actually benefit the song, he really showed you guys hardy har har' but, well, I wouldn't say it's bad, but it didn't seem at all necessary either. I can't say for certain whether it would have been better without it, but I can only imagine it would. But no worries, 'cause soon you'll hear 1, 2, 3, 4. Cue me singing like an idiot and getting half the words wrong despite how much I love this movement. And then some robots serenade you and I wish I still had something to be an idiot over before it fades out and you get that ORGANIC Sufjan you've been wanting. And it's pretty good. But that IT'S NOT SO IMPOSSIBLE stuff, whoo boy, I'll tell you.

So yeah. Album of the year. Sufjan's not fucking around.

Download
Buy