As David Bowie once said, ”I suppose for me as an artist it wasn't always just about expressing my work; I really wanted, more than anything else, to contribute in some way to the culture that I was living in. It just seemed like a challenge to move it a little bit towards the way I thought it might be interesting to go.”
Recently, in a Brooklyn dumpster near the recording studio Sufjan records in, a copy of an unreleased album from 1998 was found. While this was reportedly made known by a post on Reddit, the copies of the unreleased tracks have generally been spread throughout the public. While the music on the track has been debated by several music aficionados and journalists, I am more interested in responding to the motivation behind the mysteriously subtle release of this album.
Sufjan Stevens as an artist has gone through several drastic identity changes. These fluctuations are highlighted through the diversity of his work ranging from starts with folk roots and stretching towards his work dabbling in electronic manifesto. I would like to propose that as a showman, Sufjan Stevens is a modern portrayal of the original shape-shifting king David Bowie, who remained iconic for his constantly changing individuality as a star in the music industry.
As a huge fan of his work, I have seen Sufjan perform twice. I originally saw him back in 2012 and again this year at a music festival. In the first show, Sufjan Stevens was highly energetic in his performance and worked as a simple unit without major production add-ons. This can be attributed to the smaller, more intimate venue at the Neptune Theater in Seattle, WA and the overall mood of his newest album. I remember him engaging with the crowd by dancing around the stage to tunes which were influenced by folk roots as well as the electronic influences from their newest album. In the second performance I witnessed, the production was incredible as dancers came out in gaudy 80’s throwback tracksuits, and Sufjan himself in a pair of intricate angel wings. This time the singer/ songwriter was much calmer and commanded audience attention by his alluring demeanor. I believe this transition through the years not only came through confidence in himself as a performer, but ultimately a transition into a new identity as a showman. Additionally, this transition may explain the mystery behind the random and strange album release.
Sufjan Stevens has always been attributed within the alternative genre. In his older album releases, he received massive media attention which gave rise to his popularity in the urban industry. Moving forward, the singer's tracks became less and less soundtrack material and more focused on examining the human psyche through a musical platform. Instead of working as a band to achieve popularity with catchy tracks, over time the singer transitioned towards examining the human psyche through the story telling qualities of his lyrics. Ultimately, I believe this shift explains his approach to higher production with a more elusive slant and psychedelic trance. The production in this format creates more of a feeling of experiencing the music as an expression, rather than simply enjoying the performance as a concert.
So how does this identity shift contribute towards the odd means of the album release? I believe Sufjan Stevens is less concerned with fame and media attention now, and would rather engage with his listeners through his lyrics emotionally. Perhaps the album from 1998 did not specifically fit his new identity and it was purposely thrown out as trash and mistakenly found. However, I argue intention behind the placement of this album. I firmly believe Sufjan placed the album under the dumpster in the state of mind that if it was found, the album would gain attention internally amongst his fans and receive less attention by the industry. This album release was less focused on enhancing his career and more attributed towards speaking to his listeners through his music.
