Sufjan Stevens

Singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens has a vision of America requiring a full orchestral score and an indie-rock core. The Detroit native and Hope College graduate has taken on one of the most ambitious musical endeavors in recent memory with his 50 States Project, a planned musical document capturing each of the nation's states in their most melodious essence. With Illinois, released in July, Stevens took his second step in the venture, following the more personal opening offering, 2003's Greetings From Michigan, with a set of superb storytelling, putting his literary beginnings as a graduate student in fiction on full display. Like Michigan, Stevens recorded and produced Illinois entirely himself, releasing it on Asthmatic Kitty Records, a label he helped his father-in-law Lowell Brams start in Holland, Mich. For his efforts thus far Stevens will likely end up on nearly every rock critics' year-end top ten, as Illinois has already earned featured reviews and top ratings from major media megaliths like Rolling Stone, as well as the independent outlets who helped him get the attention he's definitely deserved. Stevens has even been profiled on MTV News' "You Hear It First" segment, a feat almost unheard of for an indie-folkie type – especially one as esoteric and operatic as Stevens. Fans have followed faithfully, making Illinois dominate the College Music Journal chart for more than a month and moving the now Brooklyn-based Stevens on to marquee status. Recoil spoke to Sufjan [pronounced Soof-Yan] via phone during a very busy "press day," which shows just how quickly his star is rising, discussing his Michigan roots, his literary inspirations and his surprise success.

Recoil: How does it feel to make a homecoming of sorts by playing here in Grand Rapids at Calvin College on Sept. 12?
Sufjan Stevens: That's going to be so fun, because I went school at Hope College, so that will be really nice to come back there and I have family in that area and I always enjoy being in that area.

R: How different do you feel this return will be from your past performances?
SS: I don't think I've ever played there with a full band so this will be my first time doing that. I think that will be really fun. But I think my performances have always been inconsistent at best, so I'm finally at the point now where I'm playing with the same people, with professional musicians, and we have a lot more experience now, so I think our performance will be a lot better. Not that it's ever been bad. My shows at Calvin have always been really extraordinary because of the environment and the sound of the room and I don't think I've ever had a bad show there.

R: This month you're also going to be playing your first show in Chicago since the release of Illinois in July, how do you think the live show will go over there?
SS: I'm a little nervous about that because they've scheduled two nights at The Metro which is this enormous venue. I'm not used to playing these [large]-sized venues. So I think it will be exciting. I want to try to invite the University of Illinois cheerleaders onstage, at least in Champaign; we're playing in Champaign near the University [of Illinois]. If we can work it out, it would be awesome to have them on stage in Chicago. I think it will be a very festive night, kind of a night of celebration, and I think hopefully everyone will be on our side. [Laughs] I feel like I'm talking about a basketball tournament or something.

R: What sources did you use the most while researching what you would write for Illinois?
SS: Any variable or historical element that had a certain kind of pageantry appealed to me. I found that this was just naturally the characteristic of the history of the state, or at least the propaganda of the state, stuff that the relation conferences have created. So, things like the World's Fair, Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln as sort of a national hero, and also other war heroes like Casimir Pulaski and Stephen Decatur, and I wrote a lot about these strange regional holidays and parades and festivals. These are the things that drew me to the state and they were the details I used throughout the album.

R: You mentioned Carl Sandburg, how much has his poetry influenced you and just how big of a factor was his work on making Illinois the second state you tackled in the 50 States Project?
SS: I read Carl Sandburg in high school. I read the Chicago poems, and then in college a little bit here and there. He's generally considered outdated and a little romantic for modern tastes. So when I returned to Carl Sandburg, it was with a bit of self-consciousness and irony. The two writers that I was reading at the time were Carl Sandburg and Saul Bellow, and Saul Bellow is considered one of the greatest American writers, and his novel, The Adventures of Augie March, is often called the great modern American novel, and it's often sort of pitched against Moby Dick. But the problem with Saul Bellow as a muse and as fodder or a resource for songwriting is that it's far too confident and sophisticated and eccentric in tone. I had a hard time using Saul Bellow in song. Whereas Carl Sandburg's writing is very lyrical and romantic, very classical, it's slightly antiquated, and it lends itself to songwriting. When I read his poetry, it's very invigorating and lush and exaggerated. It's a heightened level of consciousness that's very bold and universal. He's sort of the American bard, and a lot of that to me, in a contemporary, post-modern role, seems a little pretentious. But I like that element because I think a lot of what I do in my writing is also a little romantic and nostalgic. It uses classical forms, like opera and cantata, and it utilizes symphonic arrangements, and I think what I'm doing is somewhat pretentious, in taking on the American voice. So I used him as a balance against my own personal vision and my own personal voice.

R: How long have you had the 50 States Project as an idea? Was it something you once wanted to try as a fiction writer?
SS: I think it came about the same time I was working on Michigan. It was a propositional gimmick because I was just interested and wondering how I was going to get people to listen to my records. But I think there's a lot more to it than that. I think every joke sort of has imbedded in it a sort of severity and a seriousness. A joke is just concealing the seriousness of the issue. I realized at that time that I was infatuated with American identity, and what we call home and what we call our culture. And the real tension between Americans and Europeans, is that Europeans have very clear cultural divisions and cultural definitions, just in terms of their language and architecture. Americans are much more nebulous and confused because we're a nation of immigration. So, I guess in some ways it started out, once I took myself seriously, I realized it was really a scrutiny of identity and purpose. It was as much about discovering who I am, by telling who we are as a nation.

R: With the success Illinois has already had, will you be focusing more on working just strictly on the 50 States Project, or will you continue to remain open to making other records like you did in between Michigan and Illinois with Seven Swans?
SS: I think because I'm inspired and motivated with these ideas I think I'm going to work on it for the next few records.

R: While you've been on tour have people started coming up to you with stories from their states in hopes that you'll use them on your next record?
SS: Yeah, people are always soliciting and offering their own ideas, but I'm not sure what I'm going to work on.

R: What are some of the more interesting stories you've been told so far?
SS: Somebody told me about a UFO parade in Wisconsin, and a lot of, when I was out west, people were talking about beach towns and the Pacific Ocean like being a main character. I have this database, like this file, where I just collect paraphernalia and just letters and things like that. It's hard to say, once I sort of start working on something, I have to put aside all preconceived notions and usually you just have to run with whatever inspires you at the moment. There's a certain kind of responsibility to the work once it begins, but all the gathering of ideas and the networking and the collecting and assembling, that's like doing the groundwork and often you find you don't use any of that material at all. It's a springboard into the real thing.

R: Do you think there is something of a literary movement within independent rock fans, as acts like yourself and The Decemberists, who are both fronted by fiction writers, seem to be gaining quite a decent following? Do you think people gravitate towards you because you have a literary quality to your music?
SS: That might be one element that draws them into it. I think as human beings we're always interested in story and the human narrative and the songwriting that's successful now seems to be about a particular region and a particular voice and a particular experience. And I think pop songwriting is the antithesis of that. It's very generalized and generic, it's about abstractions; it's about love and heartbreak and anger, and the emotional environment. Whereas sort of literary songwriting is about actual, real practical things, everyday objects. I think there's an interest in that now because it's a reaction against the inability to firmly grasp on to anything. Like technology which is very confounding and having a world where we're very much aware of the global economy and global circumstances, and I think this kind of songwriting I think it's helping to remind us of the everyday, of a particular place and a particular time and it's helping us to stay grounded.

September 2005