The Age of Adz
It was Hunter S. Thompson who wrote, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” It couldn’t apply more to the work of Sufjan Stevens, who seems to have found a new way of communicating with his 2010 release, *The Age of Adz* (pronounced “oddz”). After a few gentle guitar notes on the opener, “Futile Devices,” *Adz* turns towards electronics that connect and splinter Stevens’ worldview and psychic well-being. The percussion turns brittle for “Too Much” and the spacey reverbs laced throughout give things a disjointed feel as the title track, “I Walked” and the choir-doom of “Now That I’m Older” spread out across the universe. “Get Real Get Right” sounds like a dance party where everyone freaks out and speaks in tongues. This child of Talking Heads loves his rhythms but he also loves his avant-garde textures. “Bad Communication” lives up to its title. “Vesuvius” and “All By Myself” find an inner calm amongst the chaos. “Impossible Soul” is an incredibly long closing track that further underscores Stevens’ grand ambitions.
Sufjan returns with a welcome change-up, as he moves away from bookish detail, experiments with electronics, and writes from a more personal perspective.
After 2005’s Illinois and its 2006 companion The Avalanche, Sufjan Stevens took a long break before emerging with last year’s The BQE, a multimedia, orchestral project that edged away from the meticulous, richly melodic music that won him so many fans—and more than a few detractors. Continuing in that direction,…
The Age of Adz isn’t so much a departure as an amalgamation of all that’s come before—the chamber elements, the synthetic…
Sufjan Stevens' official follow-up to 2005's critically acclaimed Illinoise puts to rest the conceptual trappings that have dominated his work thus far.
Stevens’s conceptual obsessions continue on this trippy, orchestrated journey that is, in two words, beautifully neurotic.
A troubled Sufjan Stevens recently announced a new direction for his music – and it sounds like an orchestra having a nervous breakdown. Just run with it, says <strong>Alexis Petridis</strong>
Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz review: Sufjan Stevens learns the meaning of life and turns it into an album.