Michigan (studio album) by Sufjan Stevens

An album of beauty and simplicity. On this album, the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts. No piece of this should be listened to without listening to the whole. That being said, there are three standout tracks: The poetic "For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti", the nostalgic "Romulus", and the hymn-esque "Oh God, Where Are You Now? (In Pickeral Lake? Pigeon? Marquette? Mackinaw?)"

The album certainly demonstrates Sufjan's skills as both a songwriter and as a record producer. A fine album to add to his ever-growing body of very fine work.

Another musical marvel by one of the most consistent artists in music. The fact that this is probably his 4th best album is astounding as it is just so amazing. It is delicate and beautiful right from the first track and some of the images he creates in your mind is breath taking. The lyrics are well thought out and fun to explore giving you lots to listen out for on revisits. Instrumentally, it is stunning and he weaves his way through the songs so well that it creates a smooth and enjoyable listen for us. He also packs the record full of such a diverse array of instruments that are all played perfectly and distributed in a way that they never feel crowded or convoluted which is such a difficult thing to achieve. The way he layers his music as well always puts me in awe of his work as there is so much to discover and every time I come back to records like these I find something new I didn't hear before. However, the record is a bloated release and unlike Illinois I do think some of the songs could be cut or at least reduced in length. Also, it is missing those truly phenomenal tracks that would send it into the next level and put it up with his better albums. Overall, this is another masterpiece by Sufjan and to not give it the praise it deserves due to his other releases is an injustice to the music.

From pjohnsongolf 12/06/2020 17:35

I want more people to know about this! Almost as good as Illinois

From Boltzmann 01/12/2020 10:24

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From luigybetis 03/31/2018 17:19

If you like Illinois you will definitely like this one too, but it is a bit more tiring. Still a great album, 8/10.

THIS is considered second-tier Sufjan and that's just not fair.

An that has more delicacy and thought (personallY) than illinois. I really appreciate the sustained folk sound that really feels like rural Michigan.

It's like Illinois but without the fun.

From Space-Dementia 07/30/2016 01:43

Illinois and Michigan are both beautiful albums, but for different reasons. They both seem to explore similar thoughts and feelings, but in different ways. Where Illinois seems like a musical put on by schoolchildren that exceeds everyone's expectations and ends up being better than most Broadway musicals, Michigan is a play put on by adults that don't go out of their way to show everyone they're the best, but instead leave more room for breathing and interpretation. Where Illinois seems to say, "This is a sad song" and put all its listeners to tears, Michigan seems to say, "You can feel whatever you want when you listen to this, but I was feeling sad when I wrote it," and put its listeners in a somber mood that's not nearly as heavy as Illinois, but just a different kind of sad. I'm not saying either one of these options is better, in fact I like Illinois more because I've simply never experienced such strong emotions evoked by music before. However I can understand why someone would like Michigan more, because there's so much space to breathe and decide what to feel.

like a demo for illinois