Description
Greetings from Michigan, the Great Lake State is the third studio album by the American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens, mutually released on Asthmatic Kitty Records and Sounds Familyre in July 2003. Also released in Europe by Rough Trade. All songs written, recorded, performed, arranged, and produced by Sufjan Stevens. Recorded in Petoskey, Michigan (at Steve & Jamila’s house); Brooklyn, New York (in various locations, including Sufjan’s apartment, Tom’s apartment, Megan’s apartment, Vito & Monique’s apartment, and as well at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church), at The New Jerusalem Recreational Room in Clarksboro, New Jersey, and at Buxton School in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
IN THE MAINSTREAM. In case you didn’t know, it’s pronounced SOOF-YAHN and Stevens is one of a new generation of American singer/songwriters who are mixing their spirituality with some interesting musical accomplishments and letting critics make what they like of it all. Released before the current ‘Seven Swans‘ album, this album pays tribute to this Michigan native’s home state. Piano, banjo and trumpet intertwine in pleasant fashion and complicated arrangements as Sufjan’s vocals are augmented by Elin Smith’s lovely voice on half the songs here. Thematically, there’s a yearning Job-like quality to «Oh God Where Are You Now?» and «Holland» is something rare in the Stevens repertoire – a love song! Favourites for me are «Flint» with its piano and trumpet interplay and the brilliant jazzy «All Good Naysayers. Speak Up!» He jokes that he is planning on recording another 50 albums dealing with all American states but somehow I don’t think he’s going to achieve it. [Mike Rimmer, Cross Rhythms, July 2004]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/greetings-from-michigan-the-great-lake-state-deluxe/327920307)
CD tracklist:
01. Flint (for the Unemployed and Underpaid)
02. All Good Naysayers, Speak Up! Or Forever Hold Your Peace!
03. For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti
04. Say Yes! To M!ch!gan!
05. The Upper Peninsula
06. Tahquamenon Falls
07. Holland
08. Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)
09. Romulus
10. Alanson, Crooked River
11. Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie
12. They Also Mourn Who Do Not Wear Black (for the Homeless in Muskegon)
13. Oh God, Where Are You Now? (In Pickeral Lake? Pigeon? Marquette? Mackinaw?)
14. Redford (for Yia-Yia & Pappou)
15. Vito’s Ordination Song
Note: Re-issued on 12-inch vinyl double LP by Asthmatic Kitty Records/Sounds Familyre in 2004. Available at Bandcamp: https://sufjanstevens.bandcamp.com/album/michigan
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