like an avalanche

my sufjan listening project has continued today, with more exploration, of the avalanche in particular. the avalanche is made up of material that didn't make it onto the previous album, illinoise, including a gorgeous acoustic alternate version of the song chicago. the album is similar to illinoise in tone, but has more stripped-down songs.

what i like best about the avalanche is its title. the image of an avalanche seems to fit my experience of discovering sufjan, and both the abundance of sufjan material and density (emotional and lyrical) of his music. the instrumentation on any given song, on this album or any of the others, could take many hearings to fully explore. and the instrumentation itself, which sounds unusual on first listen, becomes full of markers of the sufjan sound. sufjan's breathy voice, the complex song structures and instrumentation, and the lyrical narratives create a dreamlike world.

another sufjan marker is the tendency toward interesting performances. i haven't seen him live, but what i've seen in clips (like the excellent austin city limits performance in 2006, and other great shorts available on you tube) shows him and the band in a variety of costumes, all of which tie into the material on the albums. it kills me that i missed the town hall shows in new york city a few months back. there are some amazing clips up on you tube right now. the sound is excellent and everything else is spectacle. it's a handmade spectacle as well, artsy rather than flashy. like the flaming lips, who always win in the live performance category for me.