What are the Adz/Odds?

Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

I first was introduced to Sufjan (Soof‘– ee- yahn) Stevens when a friend suggested I listen to his Christmas boxed set.  I was hooked.  The rawness, the genuineness of the project captivated me.  The beautifully simple instrumentation and arrangements, not only of traditional carols and quirky original songs, but the selected non-Christmas hymns were refreshing: stripped-down arrangements, often featuring banjo as lead instrument.  Delightful.

I had heard he was a professing Christian, and let’s face it – much of the ‘Christian’ market is oversaturated with sound-alikes and not a whole lot of originality.  Notable exceptions do exist, but typically by artists on independent labels who are less concerned with being called a ‘Christian band’ and more content to create great art that also reflects a Christian worldview.  Artists like The Autumn Film, Future of Forestry, Lovelite and others.

I began to listen to some of Sufjan’s other songs on Youtube.  His song ‘John Wayne Gacy’  eerily and grimly reflects a firm grasp on Calvin’s posit of ‘total depravity'.

When I heard that Sufjan was releasing an EP called ‘All Delighted People’, I purchased and downloaded it  right away.  Very Sufjan.  Very Quirky.  Very creative.

Some friends invited my wife and I to attend a Sufjan concert in Minneapolis and I jumped at the opportunity. 

Then, a week prior to the concert Sufjan released his newest full length album ‘The Age of Adz’ (pronounced ‘odds’).  His website indicated that many of the songs were inspired by his recent discovery of an obscure artist – Royal Roberts.

Sufjan was offering two of the songs for free download on his bandcamp page, so I downloaded them, expecting the same quirky, folksy, banjo-acoustic, indie sound.  Wow, was I wrong.

I hesitated to purchase the new album since I was unsure I would like it.  A Facebook friend really didn’t like it – a guy whose opinion I usually share on music.

Amazon was doing a $3.99 special on it and I thought.. “well, it’s only $3.99…and I AM going to want to know some of these new songs prior to the concert.”

Good call.

I’m not exactly sure how to describe Sufjan’s latest work, but knowing some of Royal Roberts history helps.

I was expecting acousti-indie-folk.  And the first song delivers.  But then… whooo what a turn.  I was not expecting the synths and meandering cacophonous moments that break the front door in, and at first I bristled.  I also wasn’t expecting a 25 minute closing ‘song’ that is way too hard to describe right now.

My best description of it is that album is like Sufjan has been listening to the Flaming Lips’ “Yoshimi” album as well as some Blue Man Group stuff and building on those in some unique ways.  It is not for the casual “where’s the radio friendly pop song?” listener.  It requires time to grow on you… seeing the songs live in concert helps.

The concert is very multimedia heavy.  Images on back screens and front mesh screens and backup singers doing interpretive dance and the 80’s breakout section and what was that big cardboard diamond thing that descended from on high?

It had its Cirque du Soleil moments, and vacillated between tender acoustic songs and what sounded like someone pushed an entire high school band down 4 flights of stairs.  My friend Justin once described the movie ‘Speed Racer’ as having ‘molten Skittles poured into your eyes.”  This was kind of like that.

[Aside: what an eclectic audience – hipsters and neo-lumberjacks and college indie kids with the hip cool glasses and… well, guys like me who just grabbed a comfy sweatshirt and jeans.]

I love when artists give you a little history of a song – especially if that song is a bit ambiguous in it’s lyric.  I appreciate good poetry whose meaning needs to be plumbed.  But a straight-forward ‘this is why I wrote this song’ or ‘this is what this song is about’ helps too.

And in the case of ‘Age of Adz’ these revelatory moments moved me to appreciate the music even more.

Justin’s wife, Julie, and I were talking in the van ride home about how Royal Roberts was an odd choice for inspiration and she made a wonderful statement I wish I could remember verbatim.  In essence she noted that his life, while very tragic, still produced beauty and art, and how that illuminates hope.

Additionally, Sufjan shared that his new song Vesuvius is about “standing on the edge of a volcano and needing to decide whether to jump in or not” and how he decided not to jump in.  He was speaking metaphorically about life and death and the struggle or temptation surrounding Hamlet’s dilemma – “to be or not to be.”  Starkly honest to tell your audience you have contemplated suicide and decided to choose life.

In light of Roberts’ life and this revelation – the musical backdrop to the songs makes perfect sense.  Musically, you experience what the conflicted mind does. There is tragedy and confusion and moments John Cage would love.  And yet, there is beauty and there is hope.

At the concert Sufjan shared that the song “Get Real, Get Right” was penned to Royal Roberts and to remind himself of reality:

“Get real, get right / For you will not be distracted by the signs/ Do not be distracted
by them /Do yourself favor and get real /Get right with the Lord”

If you’re considering checking this work out, you can stream the whole thing here (as of 10-24-2010).

I do have one non-musical beef with Sufjan: track 10 “I Want to Be Well” contains a repeated strong profanity.  To my knowledge this is a first for Sufjan. With his great lyrical prowess, this just seemed unnecessary and lazy.

While not my usual fare, this has really grabbed me. And quite frankly, I can’t get most of these songs out of my head.