Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens is an American musician, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Detroit, United States, who is born in 1975 and grows up in Petoskey, Michigan. His work spans folk, indie and alternative music, and he is associated with art pop, chamber folk, chamber pop, contemporary folk, electronica and folktronica. He is known for songs that are carefully written and densely arranged, with recurring themes of faith, family, place and personal memory.

Background and instruments

Stevens begins his musical career in Michigan before moving to New York City and studying at the New School for Social Research. He is a multi-instrumentalist who plays banjo, guitar, drums, piano, oboe, English horn and other instruments, often layering his own parts through multitracking. He studies the oboe and English horn while at Hope College, and these instruments appear on his recordings.

His influences are broad, ranging from experimental electronic music to the jazz of Vince Guaraldi and the minimalist composers Steve Reich and Philip Glass. His songs often include Christian imagery and direct religious references, but he says that he does not set out to make music as preaching.

Early projects and labels

Stevens starts recording as a member of Marzuki, a folk-rock band from Holland, Michigan, and also plays on Danielson recordings, continuing to work with Danielson Famile and related projects. He founds Asthmatic Kitty Records with his stepfather in 1999, and later also records under Sufjan Stevens Music.

While at Hope College, he writes and records his debut solo album, A Sun Came, which appears on Asthmatic Kitty Records. After moving to New York, he records Enjoy Your Rabbit, a song cycle built around the animals of the Chinese zodiac and leaning into electronica.

The Fifty States Project

Stevens becomes closely identified with an intended series of albums for the 50 U.S. states. He begins the project with Michigan and Illinois, although he later steps back from the idea of completing all 50 records.

Michigan is a folk-based album shaped by the state where he grows up, with references to Detroit, Flint, the Upper Peninsula and places such as Tahquamenon Falls. It also combines landscape writing with reflections on faith, love, sorrow and regeneration. After that, he releases Seven Swans, a collection of previously recorded songs that works as a Christian folk album. He then follows with Come On Feel The Illinoise!, which explores Chicago, Decatur, Jacksonville, John Wayne Gacy, Carl Sandburg and Mississippi Palisades State Park.

Illinois receives strong critical response and is the highest rated album of 2005 on Metacritic. In 2006, Stevens receives PLUG Independent Music Awards for Album of the Year, Best Album Art/Packaging and Male Artist of the Year. He also receives the 2005 Pantheon prize for Come On Feel The Illinoise!, and Pitchfork Media and Paste Magazine name it their editors’ choice for best album of 2005.

In 2006, Stevens releases The Avalanche, which gathers music from the Come On Feel The Illinoise! sessions. By the time of The BQE in 2009, he treats the Fifty States Project as effectively finished, describing it as too large and too formulaic to complete.

Collaborations and other work

Stevens contributes to recordings by Denison Witmer, Soul Junk, Half-handed Cloud, Brother Danielson, Danielson Famile, Serena Maneesh, Castanets and Liz Janes. He plays piano on The National’s album Boxer. He also works extensively on Liz Janes’ Done Gone Fire, where he engineers, records, produces, arranges and performs many additional instruments.

He later records with Rosie Thomas and Denison Witmer on banjo and vocals. He also makes music for other projects and compilation appearances, including the Christian-themed song “God’ll Ne’er Let You Down” on the Asthmatic Kitty compilation To Spirit Back the Mews.

Songwriting themes and use in film and television

Many of Stevens’s songs are built around religious, spiritual and personal themes. On Seven Swans, songs such as “Abraham”, “Seven Swans”, “To Be Alone With You”, “We Won’t Need Legs To Stand” and “The Transfiguration” directly reference Christianity. Michigan and Come On Feel The Illinoise! also contain many Christian allusions alongside place-based writing.

His music appears in television and film including The O.C., Weeds, Little Miss Sunshine, Nip/Tuck and Driving Lessons. “Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)” appears in a World of Red Bull commercial. In 2017, he writes “Mystery of Love” and “Visions of Gideon” for Call Me by Your Name, and also contributes a reworked version of “Futile Devices” to the soundtrack.