"CASIMIR PULASKI DAY" SUFJAN STEVENS (2005)

For the month of November, I’ll be selecting songs in conjunction with the music Twitter challenge: #WelcomeToTheOccupation.

Sufjan Stevens’ state project is like Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. It’s an unfinished masterpiece where we can only look to the individual elements of the greater vision in Sufjan's head for our own inspiration. We found that most prominently on the Illinois album, a collection of songs and clever musical interludes — with “Casimir Pulaski Day” right smack in the middle.

Sufjan has never been shy to explore Christian spirituality in his songs, which added a depth to Illinois. He made it far more than just an album about a state. On “Casimir Pulaski Day”, we hear references to bible study group prayers paired with Sufjan’s signature instrumentation. Evoking a Wes Anderson vibe, he made the banjo and the trumpet the stars — sucking out percussion entirely. Like many Sufjan Stevens’ acoustic recordings, it sounds like it’s being played in your living room.

“Tuesday night at the Bible study, we lift our hands and pray over your body. But nothing ever happens.”

"FOURTH OF JULY" SUFJAN STEVENS (2015)

This month, I’m jumping into the #APlaceInTheSong challenge from @JukeboxJohnny2. Great songs have that special ability to describe places in a way that makes us feel like we’re right there. Each day, I’ll pick a track that I think accomplishes that feat.

In my mind, there may not be a more contemplative album on life and death than Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell and there may not ever be one in the future. The theme. The lyrics. The melodies. The production. Everything is working together so poignantly to help us know Sufjan’s mother and her second husband. It’s their life and their memories presented track by track like we’re flipping through an old photo album – and midway we stumble upon “Fourth of July”.

The ethereal quality in the song feels like the foggy cloud that we can’t shed from these moments even if we tried. It seems to be more beneficial to embrace the cloud – and even use it as a new lens from which to remember the moment even after it passes. To close out the song, Sufjan repeats one line “We’re all gonna die” several times as if it’s the only thing his family learned. But I would argue that the making of “Fourth of July” and the entire Carrie & Lowell album taught him much, much more about his family and himself.

“The hospital asked should the body be cast
Before I say goodbye, my star in the sky.”

"CONCERNING THE UFO SIGHTING NEAR HIGHLAND, ILLINOIS" SUFJAN STEVENS (2005)

For the next 30 days, I’ll be taking the #AprilAcrossAmerica challenge, picking one song a day as I make my way across the country and across genres at the same time.

Day 10: Highland, IL

Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois album is one of my favorite records from the 2000’s. Combining Stevens’ unique storytelling ability, orchestral musicality, vulnerable exploration of Christian themes and the promise of a state project (which turned out to be a joke), Illinois had this sense of gravity and boldness that’s missing on so many albums of that era. It wasn’t trying to be great. It just was. A perfect example is the understated and subtle opener, “Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois”.

Google says there was an actual UFO sighting in Highland five years before this song was released. Whether you believe that or not, “Concerning the UFO” is probably Sufjan Stevens at the height of his state project. The song welcomes you into the moment. One of the most imaginative vignettes on the Illinois album, there’s a quiet wonder to every musical layer—vocals, piano, flute, recorder. Play it outside at night and the music might be just enough to help you imagine the sighting.

“INCARNATION, THREE STARS DELIVERING SIGNS AND DUSTING FROM THEIR EYES.”

"BLUE BUCKET OF GOLD" SUFJAN STEVENS (2015)

You can get off to a fast start. You can sustain your opener with the main course, not filler. But can you end on a high note? Sometimes I wonder if recording a strong closer is the most difficult thing to pull off when it comes to album rock. When it comes to the cream of the crop in music, I can think of more strong openers than strong closers. Nonetheless, I still have my favorites which I’ll be featuring on Mental Jukebox all month.

There are many great Sufjan Stevens albums – and great they are for different reasons. But the ones I keep coming back to are the albums that are focused more on the simple songwriting and melodies than instrumental experimentation. Seven Swans does this. The famed Illinoise album does, too. My third favorite album on the simpler side of the spectrum within Sufjans’ catalog is Carrie & Lowell – an intensely personal album full of anecdotes and confessions as if they’re told from an old friend. Every track is a minimalistic songwriting wonder, including the closer “Blue Bucket Of Gold”.

A song for the dead of night, “Blue Bucket Of Gold” resides in the quiet, in the darkness. Sufjan sings like he’s speaking softly on the other end of the phone – and every single word is visceral. It is achingly honest, vulnerable and intimate, framed by the artist’s unique chord structures emanating from an echoey, chilling synthesizer. The synth sounds swirl solo for the last minute and a half, like the remnants of the words uttered. A perfect track choice to wind down Carrie & Lowell.

“Search for things to extol. Friend, the fables delight me. My blue bucket of gold. Lord, touch me with lightning.”

"O COME O COME EMMANUEL" SUFJAN STEVENS (2006)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

You know, the thing I love most about Sufjan Stevens’ music isn’t the experimental aspects. It’s the reflective parts. Looking inward, not forward. Sufjan is no stranger to Christmas music, having recorded an extensive multi-disc Christmas album which is headlined by “O Come O Come Emmanuel”. The track represents both a modern interpretation of a traditional Christmas carol as well as a personal reflection of Sufjan’s own Christian faith. It’s not all ho-ho-ho’s, but it’s not all ho-hum either. “O Come O Come Emmanuel” captures the quiet, reflective mood of the artist’s musicality and the quiet mystery and wonderment of the season.

“O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer. Our spirits by Thine advent here. Disperse the gloomy clouds of night and death's dark shadows put to flight.”

"ALL THE TREES OF THE FIELD WILL CLAP THEIR HANDS" SUFJAN STEVENS (2004)

Great album openers get the listeners to keep on listening. They can do this in any number of ways. Some openers set the tone by easing us in. Others jump right in and blow our minds from the very beginning. A great album opener isn’t an easy thing to create. More than a great song, it’s all about the sequence. Track 1 has to be the perfect starter. This month, I’m highlighting my favorites. #AlbumOpeningSongs

Seven Swans isn’t just one of my favorite Sufjan Stevens albums (up there with Illinois and Carrie & Lowell), it’s one of my favorite albums period. It’s hard to come across another recording that’s as reflective, spiritual, melodic and deeply personal. As the opener, “All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands” became an altar call for a new, pioneering musical expression.

The unique sound of “All the Trees” and the entire Seven Swans album is a musical paradox. It takes the banjo — an instrument typically used to accentuate energy, fast tempos and a sense of celebration — and turns it on his head. Sufjan used his slow, meandering banjo strums to create an aura of meditative reflection and slow down the tempo to a near halt. It’s not just about a spiritual experience. It’s a spiritual experience in itself. The banjo seems to capture murmurs straight from the heart.

““I am joining all my thoughts to you. And I'm preparing every part for you.”

"SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER" SUFJAN STEVENS (2015)

I generally gravitate to the music first before the lyrics. But as a writer, I still marvel at well-spun verses and choruses. This month, I’m joining the music Twitter community in #SeptSongLyricChallenge

Day 24

Carrie & Lowell was a return to form for Sufjan. Not that the last couple of albums that preceded it were bad. But it seemed the artist was free from the need to experiment electronically and ready to return to a minimalist, folk-driven sound, perhaps most reminiscent of the stark simplicity of Seven Swans. By stripping away the instrumentation, all attention went to the lyrics throughout this deeply personal album about his recently deceased mother and step-father. “Should Have Known Better” feels like a late night of insomnia flipping through old photo albums that are equally treasured and torturous.

“I should have known better. To see what I could see. My black shroud holding down my feelings. A pillar for my enemies.”

"CONCERNING THE UFO SIGHTING NEAR HIGHLAND, ILLINOIS" SUFJAN STEVENS (2005)

Each day in December, I’ll be reflecting back on a song from the 2000’s. The decade saw the return of post-punk and the popularization of folk music, all while some of music’s biggest acts gained their indie footing. Thankfully, it’s a period that I can look back at fondly without cringing. #31DaysOf2000sSongs

Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois album is one of my favorite records from the 2000’s. Combining Stevens’ unique storytelling ability, orchestral musicality, vulnerable exploration of Christian themes and the promise of a state project (which turned out to be a joke), Illinois had this sense of gravity and boldness that’s missing on so many albums of that era. It wasn’t trying to be great. It just was. A perfect example is the understated and subtle opener, “Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois”.

Google says there was an actual UFO sighting in Highland five years before this song was released. Whether you believe that or not, “Concerning the UFO” is probably Sufjan Stevens at the height of his state project. The song welcomes you into the moment. One of the most imaginative vignettes on the Illinois album, there’s a quiet wonder to every musical layer—vocals, piano, flute, recorder. Play it outside at night and the music might be just enough to help you imagine the sighting.

“Incarnation, three stars delivering signs and dusting from their eyes.”

"MEDITATION VI" SUFJAN STEVENS (2021)

Pick four songs from any band and you can tell a lot about their sound. This summer, I’m featuring #RockBlocks, four picks from bands across various genres. They might be wildly different from each other, but what binds them together is the fact that they’re all a part of my life soundtrack.

Out of the pandemic came Sufjan Stevens’ most prolific recording era. Everything that has happened in the world, in many ways, left him speechless, which led to a comprehensive instrumental project. Convocations is 49 tracks long, representing the five stages of grief. There’s a lot to sink your teeth into there – and a lot to reflect on. But the Meditation series is my favorite because it suited the ambient music approach so well — and I’m especially drawn to “Meditation VI”.

Without any vocals and lyrics, “Meditation VI” and the entire Convocations project takes out one of Sufjan's strengths: storytelling. But in doing so, he invites the listener to explore his emotions — and helps us to examine our own. Like a space-age hymn, “Meditation VI” ushers us into the presence of something far greater than ourselves. It’s the kind of recording that feels like it needs a visual to accompany it. And then we realize that the whole point is Sufjan is inviting his listeners to discover that image on their own.

"DEATH WITH DIGNITY" SUFJAN STEVENS (2015)

Pick four songs from any band and you can tell a lot about their sound. This summer, I’m featuring #RockBlocks, four picks from bands across various genres. They might be wildly different from each other, but what binds them together is the fact that they’re all a part of my life soundtrack.

Carrie & Lowell reminds me a lot of Beck’s Sea Change album. A recording born out of personal loss, featuring minimal instrumentation. Sufjan is often at his best with this stripped down sound, and this album was a return to those indie folk roots after a period of electronic exploration. As the opening track, “Death with Dignity” was a warm welcome back to Sufjan’s acoustic side.

I believe it will go down as one of Sufjan’s greatest songs. The musical scales are a vast playground for his melody. On “Death with Dignity”, his vocals climb, jump, soar, sit still and lay down, a self-contained metaphor for everything he must’ve been feeling after losing his mother. The song also proves that Sufjan never lost his acoustic touch. He was just off exploring other musical outlets there for a bit, like all the great music artists do.

“Spirit of my silence, I can hear you, but I'm afraid to be near you.”

"CASIMIR PULASKI DAY" SUFJAN STEVENS (2005)

Pick four songs from any band and you can tell a lot about their sound. This summer, I’m featuring #RockBlocks, four picks from bands across various genres. They might be wildly different from each other, but what binds them together is the fact that they’re all a part of my life soundtrack.

Sufjan Stevens’ state project is like Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. It’s an unfinished masterpiece where we can only look to the individual elements of the greater vision in Sufjan's head for our own inspiration. We found that most prominently on the Illinois album, a collection of songs and clever musical interludes — with “Casimir Pulaski Day” right smack in the middle.

Sufjan has never been shy to explore Christian spirituality in his songs, which added a depth to Illinois. He made it far more than just an album about a state. On “Casimir Pulaski Day”, we hear references to bible study group prayers paired with Sufjan’s signature instrumentation. Evoking a Wes Anderson vibe, he made the banjo and the trumpet the stars — sucking out percussion entirely. Like many Sufjan Stevens’ acoustic recordings, it sounds like it’s being played in your living room.

“Tuesday night at the Bible study, we lift our hands and pray over your body. But nothing ever happens.”

"ALL THE TREES OF THE FIELD WILL CLAP THEIR HANDS" SUFJAN STEVENS (2004)

Pick four songs from any band and you can tell a lot about their sound. This summer, I’m featuring #RockBlocks, four picks from bands across various genres. They might be wildly different from each other, but what binds them together is the fact that they’re all a part of my life soundtrack.

Seven Swans isn’t just one of my favorite Sufjan Stevens albums, it’s one of my favorite albums period. It’s hard to come across another recording that’s as reflective, spiritual, melodic and personal. As the opener, “All the Trees” became an altar call for a new, pioneering musical expression.

The unique sound of “All the Trees” and the entire Seven Swans album is a musical paradox. It takes the banjo — an instrument typically used to accentuate energy, fast tempos and a sense of celebration — and turns it on his head. Sufjan used his slow, meandering banjo strums to create an aura of meditative reflection and slow down the tempo to a near halt. It’s not just about a spiritual experience. It’s a spiritual experience in itself.

“I am joining all my thoughts to you. And I'm preparing every part for you.”

"COME ON! FEEL THE ILLINOISE!" SUFJAN STEVENS (2005)

Inspired by Jeep’s “Reunited States of America” Super Bowl ad, this is my peek into America through a handful of songs. Each track is dedicated to one of the states. Here’s Part 3.

I can’t have a state theme on Mental Jukebox without Sufjan Stevens. And his unfinished state project is best represented by his Illinois album. What Illinois did more so than any other Sufjan Stevens record was showcase his ability to create both stripped down moments of solitude as well as orchestrated Broadway-like anthems. What I love about “Come On! Feel the Illinoise” the most is how it displays the instrumentation, storytelling and scale of a Broadway musical and delivers it in Sufjan’s unmistakeable style.

“Typically terrific, busy and prolific. Classical devotion, architect promotion, lacking in emotion. Think about it now.”

"OH COME, OH COME EMMANUEL" SUFJAN STEVENS (2006)

Sufjan Stevens’ extensive multi-disc Christmas album is headlined by “Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel”. It represents both a modern interpretation of a traditional Christmas carol as well as a personal reflection of Sufjan’s Christian faith. It’s not all ho-ho-ho’s, but it’s not all ho-hum either. It captures the quiet, reflective mood of the artist’s musicality and the quiet mystery and wonderment of the season.

“O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer. Our spirits by Thine advent here. Disperse the gloomy clouds of night and death's dark shadows put to flight.”

"TO BE ALONE WITH YOU" SUFJAN STEVENS (2004)

Much of Sufjan’s work gives us a glimpse into the places, the people and the ideologies that have helped shaped him. And in many ways, Seven Swans is his equivalent of Dylan’s Slow Train Coming, an exploration of his Christian faith and journey. The fourth track, “To Be Alone With You”, is a musical memoir sung and played for his maker. The beauty of it is in its vulnerability and in its minimalism. A stark acoustic guitar replaces Sufjan’s flair for the experimental.

“To be alone with me you went up on the tree.”

"CONCERNING THE UFO SIGHTING NEAR HIGHLAND, ILLINOIS" SUFJAN STEVENS (2005)

Google says there was an actual UFO sighting in Highland five years before this song was released. Whether you believe that or not, “Concerning the UFO” is probably Sufjan Stevens at the height of his state project. One of the most imaginative vignettes on the Illinois album, there’s a quiet wonder to every musical layer—vocals, piano, flute, recorder. If you play the song outside at night, the music might be enough to help you imagine what the sighting could’ve looked like if it actually happened.

“Then to Lebanon, oh, God! The flashing at night, the sirens grow and grow (Oh history involved itself). Mysterious shade that took its form (or what it was!). Incarnation, three stars. Delivering signs and dusting from their eyes.”