Sufjan Stevens began his musical career as a member of
Marzuki, a folk-rock band from
Holland, Michigan. He also played (and continues to play) various instruments for
Danielson Famile. While in school at
Hope College, Stevens wrote and recorded his debut solo album,
A Sun Came, which he released on
Asthmatic Kitty Records, a record label he founded with his step-father. He later moved to
New York City, where he was enrolled in a writing program at the
New School for Social Research.
While in New York, Stevens composed and recorded the music for his second album,
Enjoy Your Rabbit, a
song cycle based around the animals of the
Chinese Zodiac that ventured into
electronica.
Stevens followed this with the first of his ambitious "50 states" albums, a collection of folk songs and instrumentals inspired by his home state of Michigan. The result, the expansive
Michigan ("Greetings from Michigan the Great Lake State") included odes to cities including
Detroit and
Flint, the
Upper Peninsula, and vacation areas such as
Tahquamenon Falls. Melded into the scenic descriptions and characters are his own declarations of faith in God, sorrow, love and the regeneration of Michigan.
Following the release of
Michigan, Stevens compiled a collection of songs recorded previously into a side project, the Christian-folk album
Seven Swans, which was released in March 2004.
Next he released the second in the 50 states project, entitled
Illinois or "Come On Feel the Illinoise." Among the subjects explored on
Illinois are the cities of
Chicago, Decatur and
Jacksonville, the
World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, the state's (somewhat confusing and obscure) observance of a holiday in honor of
Casimir Pulaski, the poet
Carl Sandburg, and the
serial killer John Wayne Gacy Jr.
Over the 2005 winter holidays, Sufjan recorded an album with
Rosie Thomas and
Denison Witmer playing banjo and providing vocals. In April 2006, Pitchfork erroneously announced that Stevens and Thomas were having a baby together, but were forced to print a retraction. Witmer and Thomas later admitted it was an April Fools' prank. In December 2006, the collaborative recordings were digitally released by
Nettwerk as a Rosie Thomas album entitled
These Friends of Mine. The album was released in physical form on March 13, 2007. In April of 2007, in Brooklyn and Philadelphia Sufjan made surprise unannounced appearances on Rosie's tour in support of this album.
On
September 11, 2006 in
Nashville, TN, Sufjan debuted a new composition, a 10+ minute piece titled "Majesty Snowbird" . On
November 21, 2006, a five CD box set
Songs for Christmas was released, which contains originals and Christmas standards recorded every year since 2001 (except 2004). "Sufjan indulged in the project initially as an exercise to make himself 'appreciate' Christmas more" It seems Sufjan was interested in the contrast between the excesses of Christmas and the spirit of it (or the "sacred and the profane"). Many of the songs were the work of an annual collaboration between Sufjan and his friend and minister Vito Aiuto; the songs themselves were distributed to friends and family.
So far in 2007 he has played shows sporadically, including playing at the
Kennedy Center to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the
Millennium Stage concerts . He was recently commissioned by the
Brooklyn Academy of Music to create a "music and film work" titled "The BQE", which will serve as "a symphonic and cinematic exploration of NYC’s infamous
Brooklyn-Queens Expressway" which will make its world premiere at BAM's Next Wave festival November 1-3, 2007.
Sufjan has also worked as an essayist lately, contributing to Asthmatic Kitty Records' "
Sidebar" feature and Topic Magazine . He will write the intro to the 2007 edition of
McSweeney's The Best American Nonrequired Reading .
Sufjan has contributed to the music of
Denison Witmer, Soul Junk, Half-handed Cloud, Brother Danielson, Danielson Famile, Serena Maneesh, Castanets, Shannon Stephens, and
Liz Janes. In 2007 alone, Sufjan played piano on
The National's album
Boxer, produced and contributed many instrumental tracks to
Rosie Thomas's album
These Friends of Mine, multiple instruments on
Ben + Vesper's album
All This Could Kill You and oboe and vocals to
David Garland's new album
Noise in You.
He has contributed covers of
Tim Buckley ("She Is"),
Joni Mitchell ("A Free Man in Paris"),
Daniel Johnston ("Worried Shoes"),
John Fahey ("Variation on 'Commemorative Transfiguration & Communion at Magruder Park"), The
Innocence Mission ("The Lakes of Canada") and
The Beatles "What Goes On" to various tribute albums. His versions of "A Free Man in Paris" and "What Goes On" are notable for only retaining the lyrics of the original, as Sufjan has taken his own interpretation on the melody and arrangement. His rendition of "
The Star Spangled Banner" has a similar rearranged melody and arrangement as well as a whole new verse .
