Sufjan Stevens - Too Much by strikegently
After four years of terrible silence following 2005's Kerouac-esque baroque opus, the sprawling 'Illinois', high king of epic pop Sufjan Stevens has burst back onto the scene with a bang - the double-whammy announcements of a new EP ('All Delighted People') AND a new album ('The Age Of Adz')
The Age of Adz is a reference to Louisiana artist and self-proclaimed prophet Royal Robertson, whose work appears on the album's cover and liner notes. A paranoid schizophrenic, Robertson translated his anguish through apocalyptic sci-fi posters after his wife left him following nearly 20 years of marriage. His comic-book style pieces-- which have been shown at the Smithsonian, among other museums-- are colorful, vengeful, and crazed. They feature B-movie style robot monsters who spout cartoon captions like, [sic] "I'll distroy much town's of adultress !!WHORE'S!!" Robertson's work is a long way from the cutesy cover of Illinois, and the fact that Stevens chose such an eccentric and hate-prone avatar for inspiration this time is telling.
