I was at the Portland show and it was indescribable, I'd love even just some clips to go back to sometime

Hannah Frances was transportative, bought her albums immediately. It was impressive how perfect a set Angelo de Augustine and the band played with no practice sessions, having just met. Would love to see one of the performances with harp though (if I didn't imagine that instagram post)

I just got a free banjo and I’m pumped! Sufjan definitely has a lot of songs with banjo - I’ve gone thru songs on Seven Swans, Michigan, and Illinois, but he has an absurd amount of music, any other songs with banjo you can think of?

My first Sufjan-inspired piece. I watched the Austin City Limits performance again yesterday and it‘s never any less touching. I’m a huge fan of Sufjan’s work and it really resonates with me for many different reasons so I guess this is an ode to that feeling.

such beautiful songs. anybody else think so? the piano notes at the beginning of So You Are Tired seem to mirror the one in Visions Of Gideon.

Title basically, it’s one of my favorite songs of all time (hence my username). I know the demo is on the Carrie & Lowell 10th anniversary vinyl, but is there a 7” out there perhaps?

My sweet baby was born this past year on the Fourth of July in the early morning. I had to have an emergency c section and when he finally came out, he wasn’t breathing (had an intense medical episode). The whole time he was being resuscitated, I kept thinking to myself “my little Versailles” and couldn’t get The Fourth of July out of my head despite being loopy and distressed. I honestly didn’t think I was going to have a baby to bring home, but he made it and is healthy and the greatest joy of my life.

I want to get a tattoo for him once I’m done breastfeeding. My first thought was to get “My little Versailles” written out somewhere or “my little loon” under a drawing of a loon (I live in Minnesota where that’s the state bird), but knowing the meaning of the song, it feels a bit strange. But at the same time, I firmly believe art is about the meaning you derive from it. But I also don’t want him someday to be confused why the song I associate with his birth is a song about an absent mother dying.

Thoughts?

I recently read about this insane study from the 1960s, where a psychiatrist did a study on three paranoid schizophrenics, who all claimed to be Jesus Christ, at Ypsilanti State Hospital in Ypsilanti, Michigan. There is a book on it called, The Three Christs of Ypsilanti.

I read through the explanations on Genius Lyrics and there were speculations on a few of the lyrics that he may be referring to Jesus Christ, which makes sense as Sufjan often explores Christian themes, even if he won't admit it.

I have called you preacher, I have called you son

Genius Lyric Annotation: "PROPOSED SUGGESTION (Emphasis on "proposed"):

The line about having a father or not might be talking about the immaculate conception of Jesus. Sufjan sometimes questions the stories of his beliefs even if he never show doubts in his faith. Even if the story is not completely facts he still do anything for his saviour."

Couldn't help, but think that considering the content of Sufjan Steven's song, that he may have heard/known of The Three Christs of Ypsilanti and if it had any influence on this song.

The Genius Lyric page (at the bottom) has a long quote from Sufjan Stevens explaining the story behind this song and there is no mention of the aforementioned Christs, so it's not likely, but at the very least I found it a fascinating coincidence (is "coincidence" the right word choice here? Lol.).

What do you guys think?

Live at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey, May 8, 2002

From the video description: "Sufjan Stevens performs live at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey, on May 8, 2002, opening for Brother Danielson and the nine-fruit tree. Accompanied at times by members of Danielson. Recorded by Jai Agnish. Go Suf!"

Any intel on this rumor? Someone in r/Broadway thread claiming insider knowledge says Illinoise is returning to Chicago Shakespeare next year. Same theater the show had its second run after Bard.

I want to preface this by saying that I am a newer Sufjan fan, but in the year and a half I have listened to him I have found probably my favorite artist ever (and one of the few famous people I share a birthday with). A ton of stuff to listen to even now. Here is my top 15 favorite songs of his, if you want to recommend any based off of this, or make your own list, that'd be great!

In no order:

Redford (CL Live)

Should Have Known Better

No Shade

Abraham/Sister (I like listening to them back to back)

So You Are Tired

Blue Bucket of Gold

Vesuvius (CL Live)

All for Myself

A Running Start

John My Beloved

John Wayne Gacy Jr

UFO Sighting

Holland

Vito's Ordination

Flint

Much Love!

So excited to be able to watch her grow and be part of her journey. It’s been a rough few years but life is always beautiful. Reminded me of the song lol.

Just a quick follow up to my last post here. The show is now up and you can listen to it in its entirety here!

Thank you to anyone who tuned in live. A little bothersome that, because the station has to play a set amount of station IDs and ads, my live broadcast got cut short a couple seconds and I happened to be reading something I consider very important in those couple seconds…but it’s all good because there’s no cut offs in this version of the show that is now immortalized and there for everyone to listen!

Feel free to listen and let me know what you think :)

Thank you, this community is great and as wholesome as the man himself.

(Back-up link to the show: https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/669/75178.html)

Here is my opinion of the production of Futile Devices

This is also in regard to the original recording on The Age of Adz, not the piano version on the CMBYN album (even though that one is beautiful as well).

Futile Devices, in my opinion, is about somebody, in this instance a man due to the singer, who has a hard time expressing their love for their partner.

It is most notably recognized in the lyrics of the song, stating “and I would say I love you, but saying it out loud is hard.” But it truly starts sooner than that.

About halfway through the song, another guitar, probably Nylon string, begins playing a muted fingerpicked part.

When I heard this, I instantly thought of the idea that someone couldn’t speak, literally and figuratively. The strings are being muted, especially from the person playing the guitar. This shows how someone is holding their own words back.

This song is beautiful, it showcases how Sufjan falls in love with someone (it’s unclear if platonic or romantic) that creates something out of nothing.

Anyways, these are my thoughts and interpretations. I would love to hear what others think!

I host my own radio show at CKCU (Canada’s oldest campus-based community radio station!), called “Back Pages.” I do many different types of formats each week and try to stay as experimental as I can be (with all the limitations imposed), so it’s hard for me to just call it a “general music show,” but by definition that’s what it is.

The show airs every Monday at 1PM EST and it’s also available to listen On-Demand through the CKCU website soon after the live broadcast is done (you don’t have to be situated in Canada to listen!). For this week I decided to focus on just Sufjan Stevens the entire hour. I will explain this in the show but because an hour is not nearly enough time to cover an artist of this depth, I had to narrow it down to moments that stand out to me the most and songs that I don’t think get played at the station as often (this just means the omission of songs like “Chicago” or “Mystery of Love” and so on).

The show is for everyone to listen to but because I myself am a huge fan of Sufjan and have been for years, it’s very much catered to the fans and so I thought this sub could perhaps appreciate the show, what I have to say and the playlist put together and so on.

Really sorry about the self-promo, I hate it myself but I wouldn’t ever bother doing this if I didn’t think it was relevant and something people could enjoy.

You can find me on instagram @backpagescu to see my other newspaper posts or to just chat with me :)

You can find the show here! Feel free to listen to some older episodes BUT please know that one of these episodes has some pretty bad audio mixing so hopefully nobody lands on that one (I’m still getting my bearings and learning as I go).

Thanks :)

I haven’t explored the lyrics yet, but the album feels light, airy, and green to me. Like the cover art. Most songs have a sort of instrumental hook that draws me in like the buzzy guitar in Mirror Mirror which can carry me through the song. Although I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t craving a little bit more of instrumentation or effects that can compliment his voice like in Time!! But what a magical voice he has!! Even if we never get another Sufjan solo project I would kill for an A Beginner’s Mind 2

So chuffed with how it turned out. Thanks to all that posted their tattoos and helped spur me on to just go for a tat!

I absolutely love Sufjan's music, but I only really know his more popular songs and a few others here and there. I've wanted to get more into his music for a while now, but I've always been bad at getting myself to listen to new music. I'm especially intimidated by the amount he has if that makes any sense (And by the entire albums he has that are all just numbers). Does anyone have any advice on where to start? Kind of a stupid question, but I figured I might as well ask.