Sufjan Stevens is crazy smart

Let's get this straight, right off the bat: It's pronounced soof*yon.

That said, Sufjan Stevens is Brooklyn's favorite folk-pop act. Known for his entrancing whisper-sing vocals and the fact that he plays more instruments than most musicians can name, Stevens has had quite a prolific year.

Stevens released his third album, Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State, on the tiny label Asthmatic Kitty in 2003. The album, an ode to his home state, is said to be the first of 50 - the series will eventually include an album for every state. Stevens plays more than 20 instruments on the album - the exact number varies depending on whether or not you consider sleigh bells an instrument.

Stevens recently released his newest album, Seven Swans, on Rough Trade in the United Kingdom and on Daniel Smith's Sounds Familyre in the States. With a minimalist sound and an unpretentious yet triumphantly religious theme, the songs mostly consist of a banjo and that hypnotic voice.

Sufjan Stevens shows are unpredictable, and usually themed to boot. Stevens and his bandmates dressed as "The Michigan Militia" during the Greetings From Michigan tour. For the Seven Swans tour, they wore feathers. Seriously. The band stands in a line across the stage and stares at the audience, doe-eyed, throughout the show. There's something unbelievably charming about the awkwardness of it all.
Stevens, composed but a bit remote in person, answered a few questions via e-mail:

WSN: Seven Swans is beautiful. What prompted making an album with such a distinct spiritual theme, and did you worry at all about the stigma that oftentimes comes along with Christian content in music?
SS: I've been reading these writers who are fixed firmly in a religious tradition, but who push the imagination beyond the institution of religion. William Blake, William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor are good examples. I had been reading quite a bit of the Old Testament as well, Genesis through Samuel, and perhaps this has a lot to do with some of the content.

If there is a stigma against religious content, perhaps it has more to do with the motivation behind that content. I have no tolerance for any kind of work that is didactic, any kind of art that feels compelled to proselytize. Art is not a forum for instruction. At least, this should not be the main consensus of a song. This is a particular kind of songwriting that compromises its integrity, and it is generally not welcome in my company.

All of that withstanding, I think perhaps there should be a stigma against other subjects in music: cliches about love, break-ups, romance, ennui, depression and self-deprecation, the selfish "I." People have an incredible tolerance for all kinds of romantic garbage, but when someone comes along singing about something sacred or divine, the tomatoes start flying. Well, I admit, I've thrown a few tomatoes in my day.

Do you really plan to make an album for every state? What prompted the project?
What began as a promotional gimmick has become a more serious scrutiny of what it means to be an American, which I think is a complicated topic right now. I really don't have high regard for concept art. This project is not what you think. The 50 states are an affectation for something much deeper, something much more mystifying that has more to do with the nature of the universe than with political and geographical boundaries.

The history of the human race is characterized by willful pursuits - of territory, of power, love, money, meaning, self-realization. In this context, Americans are incredibly insecure about their identity, partly because our history is still so thin, and we have a heritage of cultural domination. We take and take. We consume. We waste everything. We lay waste. Et cetera. This is just the beginning. I guess I'm just interested in what this means.

What have you been listening to lately?
I don't regularly listen to music. I don't own a stereo. Someone recently gave me a whole collection of Magnetic Fields and Stephin Merritt. I've never heard his music before. He has a deep voice. I started listening to music on the train. Old classical stuff. I like Baroque operas and some of the festive Russian composers, like Shostakovich. I like Schoenberg and some of Steve Reich.

Who are some of your songwriting influences?
I listened to a lot of Baroque cantatas growing up, and I think my work borrows heavily from the ornamentation of this kind of music, although what I do is entirely pop song writing. In terms of contemporary songwriters, I appreciate the kind of writing that is rooted in particulars, in the everyday objects, like shoe strings and window cleaner and watercolor pencils. These things can represent en entire universe of meaning. I like Karen Peris, from The Innocence Mission. I like Nick Drake's Pink Moon. I like David Bowie. I like Neil Young. I think all these people are important songwriters.

Is there any music out there right now that you specifically do not like?
I dislike any kind of music for film. I cannot stand this notion of the movie soundtrack. I walked out of the last Errol Morris documentary. Philip Glass should be put out of his misery.

What kinds of things do you like to do aside from music?
I write fiction. I'm trying to finish a collection of stories right now.
I also like to sew. I inherited my great-grandmother's 1938 Singer. I make aprons and shirts with zippers and curtains. I went to Waldorf School. I knit and crochet. It's the best thing to take on the road. Music is really an appendix.

I have so many other first loves. You should try my omelets. I love breakfast foods. I love French toast and poached eggs and capers on lox.

What will your next project be?
Good question! €¢