The Avalanche

Sufjan Stevens reaches his saturation point with this 75-minute, 21-track companion album to last year's acclaimed Illinois.

Sufjan Stevens is never going to get through his "50 States" project if he doesn't get the hell out of Illinois. A year after releasing his album-length tribute to The Prairie State—and three years after doing the same for Michigan—Stevens brings The Avalanche, a collection of Illinois outtakes that runs as long as…

<p>Not good enough for Illinoise, perhaps, but gorgeous none the less.</p>

Since this is still ostensibly an album of outtakes, there’s perhaps an even stronger case to be made for excising the instrumental cuts this time.

<p>4 Stars (Rough Trade)</p>