This past weekend, Sufjan performed at Cincinnati’s MUSICNOW festival and regaled the crowd in some unreleased material which you are obviously dying to hear. No secret Soof’s got a thing for birds. There’s “The Lord God Bird,” which he composed for NPR back in July of ’05 and which is still available for download…
…there’s the wings, and there’s the general onstage gushing about the avian species. So no surprise that another of his new tunes implicates fine feathered friends. Tentatively titled “Barn Owl, Night Killer.”
Another clip of a newbie is at Each Note Secure, which ENS has taken the liberty to call “Jupiter Bad June.” Is that about Delaware?! No? OK, birds, maybe?
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From what I gather, next album will be all about birds but it will also be sort-of doubling as New Jersey (like Songs for Christmas was s’pposed to be Vermont, in a roundabout way). I’m betting even money it will be piano-exclusive as well.
And the Jupiter Bad June song came from an unreleased “planets” album about 10 years back… gut feelings tell me it’ll be ressurected and released as Oregon, mark my words!
Anyway, I’m way too excited!
To what state is the Barn Owl indigenous?
Is it just me or is Sufjan starting to get boring? Like… I really love the stuff that he does, but everything is really starting to sound REALLY similar… = /
@ Jarrett, Isn’t that called defining a style? I’d reckon that artists who fail to do so are most likely just coverbands in disguise. I’m talking to you, Stone Temple Pilots, with your “oh _that_ sound is popular now so let’s sound like that!” mentality.
You can define a style without being as repetitious as Sufjan is (or has become).
As far as I know Songs for Christmas was not supposed to be Vermont, and the new birds album is not supposed to be New Jersey. Unreleased “planets” album ten years back? The style that Sufjan has recently coined as his own is worlds different than the music he was writing 10 years ago. There is no way that the song “Jupiter Bad June” was written in the “A Sun Came” era. Oregon? Where are you getting this? I really hope Sufjan Stevens doesn’t get lazy and start plastering state titles on albums that have literally nothing to do with the state, such as your Songs for Christmas/supposed Vermont.
and don’t forget majesty snowbird! birds are so hot right now.
The Snowbird is a mountain in Utah. Barnowls are in Utah, too. You heard it from me, first. Consider it…
I remember last July at Paradiso he performed a new song, and I was really hoping his new album won’t be an even softer rehash of his existing work (like Air has been doin for the past decade now). Personally, I think Seven Swans is his best yet because it’s so restrained whilst being ebullient at the same time. I wouldn’t want to pressure him with my own trite thoughts on the subject, but I really hope he’ll do something completely different.
I love Seven Swans and Illinois(or w/e exact title) but it was when recently picking up a copy of Michigan that I realized how much the latter two sound alike
I love me some orchestra/trumpet/banjo/wings, but I think it’s time for a different sound
Sufjan is so talented-his B-sides/extras are better than the majority of the music world, so it’s time for something different
jazz oboe anyone?
soof is so dreamy.
check out enjoy your rabbit if you want something different from sufjan.
I would allow Sufjan to have sex with my wife!
Oh, I forgot. You kittens aren’t allowed to like something too long or you your hipster power ring depletes. Something like that, right?
RSL: touché.
RSL: Why should we blindly worship Sufjan Stevens and everything that comes out of his oboe? I think he’s immensely talented, and I love his previous work (mostly)… but I can’t get around the fact that all of these new songs sound like shitty, Illinois B-sides.
I did kinda like the epic-ness of Snowbird though. Very Ennio Morricone’ish. “Barn Owl”, though, is shit.
I think he’s just getting better and better. And he’s doing so much else nowadays, writing for Asthmatic Kitty etc., I wouldn’t be surprised if he wrote a book (about all of the states maybe?). And also, I like the new song. By the way, Michigan and Illinois sounding alike? Check your hearing man!
When I am in despair, I listen to Sufjan. These new songs, I am so glad to hear, they make me glad to be.
Barn owls are very common in the lower half of the United States, and throughout the world, in temperate regions. Forget nationalism. Let’s talk more about birds! I’ll tell you one thing … Sufjan Stevens has good taste, when it comes to avians. Ivory-billed Woodpecker? Yes! More, please.
Sufjan said that “Jupiter Bad June” was from a collection of songs he wrote about the planets about ten years ago when he played that in Cinci. I was there.
Artists can’t win. If they do what they’ve always done people will say “Is it just me or is Sufjan starting to get boring? Like… I really love the stuff that he does, but everything is really starting to sound REALLY similar.” If their music changes and grows people say “I just wish they’d do more stuff like OK computer”.
Ultimately, the honest ones just do what they find inspired to do. If some people don’t like it, tough.
Artists can’t win. If they do what they’ve always done people will say “Is it just me or is Sufjan starting to get boring? Like… I really love the stuff that he does, but everything is really starting to sound REALLY similar.” If their music changes and grows people say “I just wish they’d do more stuff like OK computer”.
Ultimately, the honest ones just do what they feel inspired to do. If some people don’t like it, tough.
(Dan) I agree. I think despite all the hype Sujans sound is still refreshing. Well really anyone who just loves music and expresses themselves honestly works for me.
I like his stuff. I also like birds. I do, however, hope that he will lean more towards ‘Snowbird’ than this. I like it and all, but I’m not sure how many times I’d run it through… I’ve listened to Snowbird at least 6 and I only found it yesterday.
Oh, and KingHarvest- every artist appreciates some criticism… but just saying their song is shit isn’t exactly helpful. Try too point out good parts and bad parts in even terrible songs. They’re always there.
Ok..
I’m no one to know anything, but here’s what I think:
Sufjan’s new album.. will contain The Lord God Bird, Barn Owl Night Killer, Majesty Snowbird.. and maybe more songs about birds..
But with all those bird species.. the state very well could be Arkansas.. The Lord God Bird.. woodpecker was rediscovered after thought to be extinct, in Arkansas. The snowbird, or dark billed junco bird is native to all of mid to north western U.S, and the barn owl.. well.. duh.
All the proof is there for Birds, and maybe Arkansas..
but I don’t think it will be California.. thought that’d be neat..
nor Oregon.. though I would probably wet myself..
Nor New York.. and I don’t think it’s going to be New jersey.. at all.
and I love all of the songs.. I think this is going to be his best album.
i really love sufjan
and i love the genre of music he is creating
he could realease the same some over and over and i’d love it every time
like with the outakes album, i loved it!
digging back into his past i found “dumb i sound” and i loved that too!, and yes, sufjan has changed
has anyone ever picked up a copy of “enjoy your rabbit”?
it’s very very different
and i appreciate sufjan for evolving from being a large mess of sound
into something defined and beautiful
i think sufjan will keep becoming better and better with each realease to come
and who cares what the next album is!
it could be hawaii for all i care!
it’s still sufjan!
Sufjan did an interview with Pitchfork a while back and said that his next album would be fairly similar, but that he was trying lots of new stuff, but that it wouldn’t be “responsible” to get into that yet. Which is good for all of us, you can do something new on every song or every album but by no means is that always a good thing.
It’ll be nice to see the results once he’s figured out how to make it work, and fleshed it out. Maybe it’s just me, but I certainly don’t want Enjoy Your Rabbit, or anything that sounds like that.
Plus, listen to “Snowbird” it’s familar enough, but the way it’s structured is really refreshing. It sounds great, a lot more composition driven (Which is sayint something) which is also something he talks about in that interview on Pitchfork.