Sufjan Stevens: The Age of Adz: The Detroit indie darling returns with his sixth studio effort. Interesting juxtaposition of synths/progressive noise with classical instruments in many of the tracks. Electronic folk? I think that’s the closest I can come to pinning a genre on this. FCC warning on track 10. Most of this deserves airplay, but first try 1, 2, 3, 6, 11.
1) Soft crooning vocals, high-pitched piano riff, clock-like guitar.
2) Industrial sound at the beginning, then soft vocals layered on top. Really cool contrast of sweet synths/vocals with random tech noise. Space sounds/orchestra ending.
3) Title track. Flashy orchestra opening and choruses. Lamenting vocals, loud strings, deep horns. A long electronic folk ballad.
4) Slower, calmer, with echo-y vocals and muted percussion.
5) Doleful piano and vocal chorus, with Sufjan crooning.
6) Scales of vocals, horns, and flute, with synths in the background.
7) A wide mix of noises and sound, with echo-y, strange vocals.
8) Synth horn solos and a chorus of vocals. Very sing-songy.
9) Climactic percussion, grand vocals, interspersed with whispered crooning.
10) FCC “fucking” Wildly fluctuating flute, a hint of electric guitar, and exciting synths. One of the best tracks on the album, but sadly invalidated for airplay because of multiple droppings of the F-bomb…
11) A 25 minute-long epic. Everything from wild electric guitars, to falsetto female vocals, to horn synths, to orchestral string sections, to auto-tuned Sufjan vocals. Especially if you have a super-long, late-night show, this is stuff for you.
Kyle Vandenberg