6.專輯曲目:
01. Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
02. The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!
03. Come On! Feel the Illinoise! (Part 1: The World's Columbian Exposition - Part 2: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream)
04. John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
05. Jacksonville
06. A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, but for Very Good Reasons
07. Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!
08. One Last Whoo-Hoo! for the Pullman
09. Chicago
10. Casimir Pulaski Day
11. To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament
12. The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
13. Prairie Fire That Wanders About
14. A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze
15. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!
16. They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!
17. Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bushnell
18. In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth
19. The Seer's Tower
20. The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders (Part 1: The Great Frontier - Part 2: Come to Me Only with Playthings Now)
21. Riffs and Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, and the King of Swing, to Name a Few
22. Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run
第二張專輯Enjoy Your Rabbit以中國的十二生肖為題,玩的卻是光怪陸離的電子即興曲風;第四張專輯Seven Swans(音速青春2004十大專輯)以斑鳩琴為主導,篤信基督教的Sufjan透過緩慢的民謠曲勢,探討著宗教信仰、家庭價值與個人情感三者間的糾葛,詞與曲皆充滿著深度與力量。而第三張專輯Michigan與最新專輯Illinois,則是Sufjan Stevens另一個異想天開卻又讓人拍案叫絕的音樂狂想。
對Sufjan來說,所謂的50 States Project一開始只是廣告文案式的幽默宣傳手法,目的是推銷Michigan – 一張以自己成長家鄉為主題的概念專輯。然而音樂質地細緻多元的Michigan不但一舉打響了Sufjan Stevens的名號,蜂擁而至的好評也迫使Sufjan重新審視這個計畫的可能性 – 以美國的五十州為命題藍本,替他們各自創作一張唱片。
Sufjan開始思考著美國認同與美國歷史。從他的角度出發,美國毫無疑問是座混雜著各色人種與各式宗教的熔爐;然而混亂的政治局面卻使這個曾經強盛的移民國家面臨著信心崩解的危機。如何將大家團結起來,找尋一致的出口,似乎是每名公民都應努力的課題。Sufjan盡了自己的本分,音樂人的本分;2004年尾端,他將自己關進錄音室,錄製了50 States Project的第二號作品,Illinois。
每年總有幾張唱片,初聽時已足以驚訝地讓你合不攏嘴。它們不需要反覆聆聽才能參透個中奧妙,幾乎聽完一遍你已能篤定地說: 【This is the “IT” record of the year.】於是它在唱機裡轉過一天又一天,每次聽著這些歌曲,只恨不得在天空架上一具大型播歌機,好與所有人分享。我之所以花了大半篇幅描述著與音樂不完全相關的背景資料,實為Illinois不是一張能用文字表達的唱片。它的目不暇給、它的百轉千折,它的扣人心弦、它的雋永美好,這境界之高,已非文字能傳遞揣摩的境界。每次聽到第四首John Wayne Gacy, Jr.、第九首Chicago、第十五首The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us!,除了感謝自己的雙耳依然健在,已沒有多餘的字句足供表達。