Sufjan Stevens: The Age of Adz

Label: Asthmatic Kitty

Weird fact No. 1: The Age of Adz is Sufjan's first song-based studio album since Illinoise in 2005. Weird fact No. 2: The last word in the title is apparently pronounced "odds," although I wanted it to be "ads" -- the reference to the defining din of our culture would explain the complex beauty of Stevens's work. Alas! You fans will have to trust again your chosen indie-bard-composer, for this album rewards you who fall into it, letting the summed mass of Stevens's modes -- symphonic, indie-folk, electronica -- envelop you. And how it will: the choral uplift of "Vesuvius," the jittery electronics of "Too Much," the anguished title track -- all of which goes on while hewing to Stevens's prime objective of melody. And then there's the 25-minute closer, "Impossible Soul," which might just mesh together every single musical idea Sufjan Stevens has expressed to date. Beautiful and difficult, much like the world today (although the album may be more reassuring, in the end). (Bosco)