Sufjan Stevens: The Age of Adz

"Stevens: The Age of Adz, these are pop songs, but they're based on sound experimentation and noise. They're more aggressive, and even my tone of -- the way I'm singing -- it's more in my throat and not always pretty. So I was aware of that, and I just felt like an imperative to experiment with these tones, and generally, I think now more than ever, I'm making music for that elite 5% -- you know, the listener who's been with me from the very beginning and understands my interest in electronic music and noise and in sound sculpting and minimalism and all that stuff. So I think that that record, The Age of Adz, is really for that listener, you know? I don't think it's meant to be for the casual listener who likes the song 'Chicago,' which is fine. There's no condescension at all in that remark. I don't condescend to any of my music or to any listener. But I just am not in a season right now of feeling that kind of populist thrust" (Daniel J. Kushner, "Adz and Ends: An Interview with Sufjan Stevens," Huffington Post, 7/26/11).
View catalog record here!