Patience. It's a virtue the hoards of Sufjan Stevens fans have learned to embody over the course of his 10 year musical career. First, it took patience to learn how to pronounce his name (""soof-ee-yan""). Then it took patience to unearth Stevens' historical narrative on 2004's Michigan and 2005's Illinois. Most recently, though, it took a great deal of patience to sit through Stevens' five year musical hibernation—one that finally ended last month with his announcement that a new Stevens album was on its way.
Never before, however, has the patience of Stevens' fans been tested to the degree it will when they attempt to digest the 11 track, 82 minute spectacle that is The Age of Adz.
Whereas past records found Stevens relatively confined within the boundaries of a certain theme, The Age of Adz makes room for all of Stevens' musical ambitions and leaves little room for the listener to breathe. Blending folk with electronic, classical with Auto-Tune, Stevens delivers an extremely ambitious album that delivers some brilliant musical moments. These can only be appreciated, however, if listeners are willing to wade through some extreme shit to find them.
Album opener ""Futile Devices"" finds Stevens in a traditional folk setting; his soft voice surrounded by sparse instrumentation courtesy of some acoustic guitars, piano and bells. This is classic Sufjan Stevens, or at least, the Sufjan Stevens that so many people fell in love with when ""To Be Alone With You"" appeared on ""The O.C."" Sadly, it's also probably the only song on The Age of Adz a typical ""O.C."" viewer would enjoy at all.
""Too Much Love"" introduces the electronic blips, sporadic rhythms and overwhelming instrumentation that pervade the rest of the album. With choruses of singing girls, hand-claps and trumpet runs, ""Too Much Love"" isn't far from the sound of Illinois' ""Chicago."" But where ""Chicago"" was swelling with youth and happiness, ""Too Much Love"" is a much darker affair. As Stevens sings, ""There's too much riding on that / Too much, too much, too much love,"" he seems to have lost the optimism of Illinois' melodic anthems.
""Age of Adz"" features an introduction akin to a musical interpretation of the apocalypse, as daunting trumpet blasts and flute trills accompany booming bass. Ambient guitar and Stevens' distinct falsetto, however, close the song on a soft, apologetic note.
On the upbeat ""I Walked,"" Stevens' voice smoothly slides from octave to octave, serving as centerpiece to a sea of drum clacks, echoing synthesizers and female vocals. Without overwhelming the listener's earbuds, Stevens strikes a perfect balance between his varying musical styles on this standout track.
""Now That I'm Older,"" a simple but haunting track, finds Stevens applying some heavy reverb and echo to his voice. Later, on ""Impossible Soul,"" the album's 25-minute swan song, revisits the idea of vocal effects using Auto-Tune.
Stevens' soft voice has been the most appealing aspect to his music, and to hear it digitally affected on The Age of Adz is discomforting. While much of the electronics on The Age of Adz show an artist capable of intermixing electronic and traditional genres, Stevens' horrific use of voice modulation reveals an artist overindulging in his musical arsenal.
In spite of its pitfalls, there is a lot to like about The Age of Adz. Incorporating electronic elements from Enjoy Your Rabbit, personal folk narrative from Seven Swans and the anthemic instrumentalism of Illinois, Stevens has created an album that provides not only a synopsis of his career, but a definitive step forward. Unfortunately, very few will have the patience to sit through an album that outdoes a power lecture in length.
