« The Disk: Code Zero | Main | Tree »

August 21, 2008

Come on Feel the Illinoise! Bringing Back a Classic!

The other day I was talking to someone about a great artist, Sufjan Stevens. As I talked with him about the album that made him famous, 'Come On Feel the Illinoise!,' I was reminded of how excellent the music is and what a testimony it is of God's creative gifts given to us! Yes, Sufjan is a Christian, and yes, he writes with words that could only be inspired in a creative writing class, and with beautiful composition. This is a follower of Christ that is putting out something original and new...not a carbon copy of what's been done before, (see Point of Grace, Plus One, etc., etc.)! I thank God for a believer who writes from the heart with an authenticity that is felt in the heart, albeit painfully at times, and which spurs a feeling of joy at other times.

I remember reading the review in Rollingstone, which referred to his album as "hippie-Christian-folk," and hailed the album with 4 stars, an excellent rating. Paste Magazine wrote, "Despite a predilection for the chilling ("And in my best behavior / I am really just like him," Stevens sings on serial-killer ballad "John Wayne Gacy, Jr."), the mode of Illinois--as it reads simply on the spine--is playful." Even the New York Times fell for the singer/songwriter, calling his poetry "breathtaking", and going on to say, "His meditative, lo-fi albums are speckled with small, surreal outbursts of sophisticated musicianship." All that to say, it is rare that a Christian would receive such rave reviews...I therefore, went to Borders to pick up a copy, but it was sold out...I then went to Vintage Vynal, again, sold out...I finally found it at Best Buy. I blasted the introduction of piano chords and flutes on Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illanois, and went on a musical journey across the state of Illinois. See, Stevens is on a quest to produce an album honoring all of our fifty states, which started with 'Michigan, the Great Lakes State.' 'Illinois' goes in and out of joyful bliss, in songs such as Come On! Feel the Illinois! and then takes you to the songs of heartbreak that life hands us all eventually, in Casimir Pulaski Day.

I mentioned the authenticity of his words chosen...I haven't heard anything as honest as the chilling account about John Wayne Gacy Jr.. We hear his self-reflection of the sinful state that indwells us all in the final line, "in my best behavior, I'm really just like him, look beneath the floorboards for the secrets I have hid." Another writer that reflects these hards truths is the apostle Paul, "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." We have to accept this to see our desperate need for a Savior who can cleanse us, pull us to Him, and live a life devoted to Jesus. Sufjan speaks this same truth without openly directly saying, "All the glory when He took our place, but He took my shoulders and shook my face, and He takes, and He takes, and He takes."
If you're looking for some great music, regardless of whether you're a Christian or not, go buy this album, download it, do what you need to do...it's one of the greatest I've ever heard!

| By Nathan Gemayel | 6:54 PM

Comments

Post a Comment About "Come on Feel the Illinoise! Bringing Back a Classic!"

Email "Come on Feel the Illinoise! Bringing Back a Classic!" to a friend!