Sufjan Stevens, "a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist" (allmusic.com), is steadily growing in popularity amongst those in and out of the know. What I'm trying to say here is that they're playing his music at Starbucks.
In any case, Sufjan had decided to write an album for every state in the union. It started with "Michigan", and album I've never heard. I've got to admit that the thought of a guy just turning out 50 albums turned me off to him immediately.
The latest installment (or perhaps I should say the second installment) of this project is "Illinois". For some reason I decided to check out Illinois yesterday, and to my surprise, track #1 is titled "Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL".
As you may of may not know, I grew up in Trenton Illinois, a small town just nine miles south of Highland. I know all about this UFO business, because if you're from a town like Trenton, you pay attention when the next town over has a bunch of very detailed websites and a Discovery Channel special devoted to its' UFO sighting. I mean... I've been all those places the UFO was sighted.
The song doesn't mention Trenton, of course, but it does mention Lebanon, which is 7 miles west of Trenton. But Sufjan pronounces it "Leb-ah-non". In Lebanon they pronounce it "Lebenen" or something like that.
Anyway, Sufjan's album is pretty good. Amazon's editors seem to like it, anyway. Pitchfork gave it a 9.2. I give it a thumbs up for giving me a poetic reminder of home.
1 comment:
this took like 10 edits to get right.
be sure to check out the link that says something about "very detailed websites"; those of you from trenton and whereabout will recognize alot of things in the pictures.
that's always fun.
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