Although The Age of Adz, Sufjan Stevens' sixth full release and his most expansive to date, might be better described as The Age of Flute Trills, it might also be one of the landmark albums of the decade. The Age of Adz is a sprawling musical suite that combines, intelligently and infectiously, the Enjoy Your Rabbit-era glitchy electronics and drum samples and the 50 states project-era symphonics and fluttering orchestration.
Each song complements the other, realizing the vast and overarching vision that Sufjan loyalists caught a glimpse of in this year's All Delighted People EP. Each note and verse swells with clarity and authenticity and, although at louder moments there's a significant amount of compression, the dynamics of each moment are pronounced in ways that encourage listeners to delve deeper. The Age of Adz is so musically dense that it's hard to process everything at once, even over the course of several dozen listens.
It's difficult for religiously zealous musicians to gain legitimacy within the music community, but when Sufjan sings, "You really got get right with the Lord," he backs it with such an overwhelming sense of musical harmony and personal intimacy that it forces listeners to empathize with him. That's the wonder of this album: it's so vivid and primal that it's impossible to ignore.
Download.
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