SUFJAN STEVENS

I generally can't stand musical theatre. Whenever I have the misfortune of attending such a show I find myself wondering why I'm being shouted at by pompous phonies demanding I should have a glorious time. Get lost. But I have a feeling 'Illinois' could revolutionise Broadway. It's only fair for subtle beauty to have it's marvelous revenge. And what a strange album for an 'alternative' artist to make, so comfortably seated in old, homespun notions of community and it's unfolding tales and reminiscences. More Steinbeck than counter-culture. The far-reaching arrangements were ambitious and careful in their avoidance of the overwrought, with commanding chorals and ornate patterning creating elegant shape. Moving beyond the steadiness of confessional singer-songwriter safety, Stevens stretched himself into a vortex of storytelling, at times giddy with uplift then deciding to quietly devastate you with a lovely song about a serial killer. Shades of Sweeney Todd? What would inevitably be missing from the opening night sensation is his voice. Sensitive, not coy, gentle, never dishonest. Distant too, somehow, allowing his yarns to speak and touch without any unnecessary excessiveness.

Does perfectionism lead to rigidity? Will a series of half-baked stop-gaps really do? He's served us some souffles in the meantime. The pre-sales of 'All Delighted People' haven't been announced yet, are we expected to witness Noah's ark? The title track suggests so, in two versions of movie-schmaltz dramatics and banjo intro/electrospection. Elsewhere a melodic genius slacks off, bemused by his own whimsicality. The letting go of hard fixtures can reveal simpler revelations. Curiously, I'm reminded of Paul McCartney's first three post-Beatles records, an amorous stripping down of intellect and attentiveness for an emotional and physical truth. Or is that a veiled and mystified reality? There's a semi-religious enrapture of romantic love and also a kind of blithe cheekiness, as if to say I could do a whole lot more with these sketches but who's to defy intimacy? Stevens is clearly an enigma, even as a universalist, only Allison DuBois knows what will happen next, he could probably do anything or nothing. I think he's capable of something extraordinary.