So this guy is a musician from Detroit and has been making music since 1999. When he first started, his music has actually been released on the indie record label he started with his step-father. The label was named Asthmatic Kitty (awesome name) and his step dad's cat Sara. She was an adopted stray who had asthma and was always wheezing and having a hard time breathing. Honestly anyone who has a cat get bonus points in my books, so hooray for the dedication. Sufjan is a super talented person in general, playing multiple instruments on most tracks. A list of all the instruments he can play include: guitar, bass guitar, banjo, piano, xylophone, vibraphone, English Horn, oboe, drums, recorder, and the theremin. And yes, that is recorder as in the flute thing that we all had to learn in elementary school. I wasn't familiar with what a theremin was, so I looked it up. Apparently I've seen the instrument before, I just never knew the name. It's an electric instrument that follows hand movement to adjust pitch. It's often used for sci-fi stuff. Listening to songs from all the different albums shows the vast array of time signatures, instruments and styles that have been put into his work. I always love seeing how artists evolve and change their sound so if you're bored and have time you should look through the whole discography.
Sufjan is most famous for his 2005 album called Illinois, which is the one this song is from. The link is an easy listening version of the song that I really like, but I also love the original so the link to that is here. This one is a song that I have heard used in a lot of media, most notably for me was in the movie Little Miss Sunshine. You may be curious about the album now. Well he had this project where he wanted to write and album inspired by each state, a feat accurately named the Fifty States Project. He started with the album Michigan, about the state where he is from. Awhile after Illinois though, he said it was just a marketing gimmick, although I thought the idea and execution could have been very cool. All in all he's released 11 albums over the span of 12 years, so he is productive (productive enough to continue his gimmick?) Anyway I like the song and I thought it was interesting to share.
Peace.
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