The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album

Sounds like … Danielson Famile, Half-handed Cloud, Daniel Johnston and other indie eccentrics from the Asthmatic Kitty and Sounds Familyre consortium of labels

At a glance … a seamless though not necessarily revelatory addendum to last year’s stunning Illinois, The Avalanche still attests to Sufjan Stevens’ tireless ingenuity

Track Listing

The Avalanche
Dear Mr. Supercomputer
Adlai Stevenson
The Vivian Girls Are Visited in the Night by Saint Dargarius and His Squadron of Benevolent Butterflies
Chicago (acoustic version)
The Henney Buggy Band
Saul Bellow
Carlyle Lake
Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in His Hair
The Mistress Witch from McClure (or, The Mind That Knows Itself)
Kaskaskia River
Chicago (adult contemporary easy listening version)
Inaugural Pop Music for Jane Margaret Byrne
No Man’s Land
The Palm Sunday Tornado Hits Crystal Lake
The Pick-up
The Perpetual Self, or “What Would Saul Alinsky Do?”
For Clyde Tombaugh
Chicago (Multiple Personality Disorder version)
Pittsfield
The Undivided Self (for Eppie and Popo)

Since banjoing his way into the elitist indie scene with 2003’s Michigan and 2004’s Seven Swans, alt-folk singer Sufjan Stevens has found favor with highbrow audiophiles and mainstream critics, as well as believers disenchanted with mainline Christian music. He reached new heights in 2005 with Illinois, the most acclaimed album of that year and one of the most fanciful albums ever created by a man of faith.

With The Avalanche, Stevens continues his ever-productive streak. He allegedly had envisioned Illinois as a double album, but several tracks were cut when the proceedings reached staggering proportions. Illinois still boasted 22-tracks, but Stevens unearthed 21 more outtakes and alternate versions from the incomplete sessions, tweaked them, and reassembled them into this new project.

There’s little to say about an album that sounds so much like its predecessor—from folksy story songs and obscure Prairie State references, to Stevens’ imaginative arrangements and idiosyncratic use of banjos, oboes, glockenspiels and anything that makes a sound. We’re treated to three more versions of “Chicago” that all manage to sound distinctive. “Dear Mr. Supercomputer” would have been welcome the first go around, bridging together imagery from other songs while hinting at Stevens’ faith. Likewise, “The Perpetual Self” suggests who to turn to in the middle of despair.

Both projects are so similar, Stevens may as well have released the double album. The Avalanche isn’t great on its own, but combined with Illinois, it’s a testament to his musical genius, one so vast and inexhaustible that he tends to forget what he’s already done and, at worst, even repeat himself.