Categories : Featured Review, Miscellany, Music Reviews.
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Rating: 3.5/5 Released: July 11, 2006 Reviewer: David Coats |
In 2005, Sufjan Stevens became the darling of the indie scene with his brilliant album, Illinois, the second in a series intended to tell of the history, culture, spirituality, geography, and characters of all fifty states. The Avalanche, a collection of extras from Illinois, is difficult to gauge. It goes without saying that there can’t be another Illinois, considering its stunning songwriting and artistic philosophy. Yet the songs on The Avalanche were created in very much the same artistic spirit as Illinoiswas, making for a total of forty-three songs that come from a similar place, which, considering the complexity of Stevens’ artistry, is nearly overwhelming.
On the other hand, if you think of these as two distinct records, it feels as though Stevens essentially made the same record twice. Perhaps Stevens would have done better to have either released a condensed EP, or even to not have released this at all. Yet even with this philosophical dilemma, The Avalanche is still, inevitably, loaded with quality material that fans of Stevens’ incomparable orchestral alternative folk will enjoy. Stevens’ instrumentation is once again flawlessly dynamic; the songs still bustle with life and anticipation, especially ‘The Henney Buggy Band’ and ‘Adlai Stevenson’. Also highlights are ‘Springfield’, with its blues edginess and left-field guitar solo, and the reprimanding lyrics of ‘No Man’s Land’: “This land is not yours or mine to have / This land was made for the good of itself.”
This momentum is compromised by one too many sci-fi instrumentals in the record’s second half. Stevens also includes three alternate versions of ‘Chicago’, and while the acoustic version is nice, none of the three compare to the original. In fact, good as a lot of these b-sides are, the best material did wind up on Illinois. Whatever Stevens creates is worth listening to, and while The Avalanche won’t become legendary the way Illinois will, it is still a work of unique creativity and quality, especially compared to other b-sides records.
