On his debut album, A Sun Came, which appeared in 2000, Sufjan Stevens sang, played all the instruments—piano, electric guitar, oboe, banjo, sitar and xylophone—wrote the melodies and lyrics and even recorded it himself, on a four-track cassette tape recorder. Since then, he has staked out a place in the world of indie rock as a composer and songwriter of extraordinary depth, with a sound that might be described as very new and yet strangely Old World. Stevens, London's Observer noted, is 'one of the most compelling new voices in American music.' The New York Times called him a 'cult figure who happens to be a major artist.' Related Content • • His second release, Enjoy Your Rabbit, is a collection of electronic instrumentals, each named after a Chinese zodiac symbol. He followed that in 2003 with Michigan, an homage to his home state, and announced his intention to record an album for every state. Although he has since tackled Illinois with Come On, Feel the Illinoise—one of the most critically acclaimed albums of 2005—he admits that 'at this rate, I probably won't get many done in my lifetime.'

The albums have all been released on the Asthmatic Kitty label, which he founded with his stepfather. His 'old' sound and intense, starkly personal lyrics make more sense when you know his history.

Find great deals on eBay for sufjan stevens illinoise. New listing Sufjan Stevens - Illinois [Come on. Of Enter your ZIP code Go. Please enter a valid. The little secret behind the Illinois record is that it was originally conceived as a double album, culminating in a musical collage of nearly 50 songs. EDIT #2: i cant find anything unenjoyable about this album. The concept is a terrific idea, and it was executedly so perfectly, which is something extremely difficult to do with music. I can cry to this, dance to it, and just listen to it whenever. Illinois is as well rounded as an album can possibly be in my taste. Also, despite the title and subject matter being the state of Illinois, there.

Stevens' parents, who both belonged to the Eastern religious sect Subud, separated within months of his birth in 1975. Sufjan and his siblings (one brother and two sisters) went to live with his father, who soon remarried. With his stepmother's daughter from a previous marriage and a baby brother born into the new family, Stevens felt he was living in what he calls a 'dysfunctional Brady Bunch.' 'There were no lessons, there wasn't the consistency that the Brady Bunch had,' adds Stevens, 32.

'I did a lot of just watching and observing them.' The family lived at the edge of a run-down Detroit neighborhood. 'I remember Detroit feeling really unsafe, feeling scared a lot. Our house was broken into, our car was stolen, we had to get a watchdog, we would get beat up in the street, I had my bike stolen. There was just a lot of real anarchy on the streets and sidewalks.' He says moving five hours north into a great-grandmother's house in the tiny defunct lumber town of Alanson came as a relief. The only problem was that as a summer home, it had no insulation or heat apart from a small wood stove.