Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens is an acquired taste. You either get him or you don’t. I surprised myself that I was actually into the show and his music in spite of most of it being very flat and steady. This isn’t a bad thing, however, when you have music that is very mellow it’s hard to sustain an audience for a full two hours. There were moments that were more challenging than others. I was a little too relaxed not out of boredom but out of inspiration to let my body shift into the neutral zone similar to meditation yoga.
Sufjan over uses the vocal echo to his advantage rather than a crutch. He makes it a signature point in his music, a technique that many artists have failed to do. What makes this work is the vocal technique married with dark themed lyrics and life lessons that aren’t translated so obviously. Sufjan uses this echo technique more to make his voice sound more feminine and gentle since he’s speaking voice is extremely deep.
Sufjan displayed his deep voice by reciting an extremely long winded but humorous childhood story of death and disabled pets.
Sufjan comes across as an extremely shy and introvert person. There were a lot of moments in which he was alone on stage and used the thick synth sound as a comfort blanket.
The music is best described as «dream state» music. He has a lot of lyrical and composition blue prints that remind me of Elliot Smith (who I am a huge fan of).
The visual spectacle, which helped propel the show, consisted of low lights, soft lights and projections of old family home movies. You needed the visual element to carry out the music. Without the light show to balance out the music it would’ve been a snooze fest even for the most die hard of fans.
I came into the show heavy with thoughts but walked out lighter than air. There were moments in which I had my eyes closed as this enhanced the understanding of the lyrics. Without the visual distraction I was able to pick up on the slightest lyrical gems that are often missed at first listen.
During the show you could hear a pin drop. I felt really bad grabbing for some Kleenex and blowing my nose it was that quiet. Everyone was as still as statues in the dark. We were all in a musical trance.
The souvenirs were really cool, the most sought after item for those whom lined up 3 hours early was the 7″ colored single set (only 300 were printed worldwide).