Sufjan Stevens: Come On Feel The Illinoise

(Herald rating: * * * * *)

Detroit-born New York-based singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens is a man on a mission.

A few years back he released an album entitled Michigan, dedicated to his home state. On this, his attention has wandered west to Illinois, and apparently he wants to set the other 48 states to music too, album by album, as part of his 50 States Project

Well, so far, so good. For Illinoise is a gloriously eccentric pop suite - witty, literate, ornate (it's got a choir, string quartet and Stevens plays just about everything), relentlessly tuneful and - say it quietly - educational.

It comes with a daunting 22 tracks, though roughly half are instrumental pieces or ambient interludes with titles like A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godrey Maze.

The songs themselves deliver lateral-minded lyrics on subjects as diverse as serial killers (John Wayne Gacy Jr), local race relations (The Black Hawk War), architectural achievements (The Seer's Tower [sic]), the Chicago World's Fair (the title track) and visitors from out of state (Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois).

And Stevens' song Chicago might not supplant Sinatra's famous ode to the place but it's still a lovely swirling dreampop centrepiece to this album.

Stevens sings with a fragile intensity which recalls the likes of the late Elliott Smith. And when his songs aren't doing lavish pop-symphonic things - as on the guitar'n'banjo Casimir Pulaski Day or the piano-framed opener Concerning the UFO Sighting ... - they also recall the balladry of Smith as well as Neil Young.

But its sophisticated side shows Illinoise is ambitious in a Brian Wilson-meets-Brian-Eno kind of way. For instance, the title track rattles along in askew time signature, starting out sounding like it began life as the theme for Waiting for Guffman before eventually mutating into something that sounds like the Cure's Close To Me turned into a dizzy showtune.

Add a couple more of those and the result is an album that could have been a grand folly but captivates with its concept as much as its tunes.

Initially it can feel like it's a little long. But in an age when albums are increasingly becoming iPod ammo, here's one where "shuffle" is just going to ruin the overall effect.

Can't wait till he messes with Texas.

Label: Asthmatic Kitty/Rhythmethod