Before creating the album, Stevens read literature by Illinois authors Saul Bellow and Carl Sandburg, and studied immigration records and history books for the state-he made the deliberate decision to avoid current events and focused on historical themes. Stevens launched his 50-state project in 2003 with the album Michigan and chose to focus on Illinois with this recording because "it wasn't a great leap", and he liked the state because he considered it the "center of gravity" for the American Midwest. Stevens and his band the Illinoisemakers wore outfits modeled after those of the cheerleaders of the University of Illinois. Sufjan Stevens performing on stage during a tour for Illinois. Besides numerous references to Illinois, Stevens continued a theme of his songwriting career by including multiple references to his Christian faith. The varied instrumentation and experimental songwriting on the album invoked comparisons to work by Steve Reich, Neil Young, and the Cure. The album amounted to Stevens' greatest public success to date it was his first to place on the Billboard 200, and it topped the Billboard list of "Heatseekers Albums". According to aggregate website Acclaimed Music, Illinois is the most acclaimed album of 2005, 7th most acclaimed album of 2000s and 95th most acclaimed album in history. Illinois was named the best-reviewed album of 2005 by review aggregator Metacritic, and was included on several reviewers' "best of the decade" lists-including those of Paste, NPR, and Rolling Stone. In particular, reviewers noted Stevens' progress as a songwriter since the release of Michigan. Following its release, Stevens promoted Illinois with a world tour.Ĭritics praised the album for its well-written lyrics and complex orchestrations. The artwork and lyrics explore the history, culture, art, and geography of the state-Stevens developed them after analyzing criminal, literary, and historical documents.
Stevens recorded and produced the album at multiple venues in New York City using low-fidelity studio equipment and a variety of instruments between late 2004 and early 2005.
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state-part of a planned series of fifty that began with the 2003 album Michigan and that Stevens has since acknowledged was a joke. Illinois is Stevens' second based on a U.S. His fifth studio album, it features songs referencing places, events, and persons related to the U.S. Illinois (styled Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel the ILLINOISE on the cover sometimes written as Illinoise) is a 2005 concept album by American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens. The Buddy Project, Astoria, Queens, New York City, United States as well as various locations in and around New York CityĪsthmatic Kitty/ Secretly Canadian and Rough Trade