Cobbler's official ranking of Sufjan albums
The Age of Adz
Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel the Illinoise
Carrie & Lowell
Seven Swans
Sufjan Stevens Presents... Greetings from Michigan, the Great Lake State
The first three are all stellar. None of them are perfect; Age of Adz loses shape in the middle, Illinoise is way too long and has filler and Carrie & Lowell, though it is definitely his most consistent and coherent, just doesn't have enough moments of warmth to comfort oneself in. I always come away from a listen of it impressed more than I am in love. Seven Swans loses steam in the second half and Michigan I haven't spent enough time with but suffers from similar issues as Illinoise does; not surprising given they're of the same format.
Enough words have been spilled about Illinoise and Carrie & Lowell but I really urge people to give Age of Adz another few shots. It is actually my AOTY, the album I've listened to and come back to more than any other. The first listen I was totally unsure but there were enough tiny glimpses of wonder for me to want to come back and over time - in fact, with pretty much every listen - something else, another moment of astonishing, naked beauty reveals itself to me. Those moments - the final lines of the title track, the short, softball introduction that is Futile Devices, mournful Vesuvius, the chaotic, confused and joyful determination of I Want to Be Well and of course Impossible Soul - take my breath away, they really do. It's one of the most underrated albums I've ever known.
