A (Special) Ranking of Every Sufjan Stevens Album
For one of my favorite artists of all time, I simply can’t choose a favorite; there are too many ties! But I’ll still rank them in tiers.
For Sufjan Stevens, a detailed ranking of his studio albums would be way too difficult. First, I’d end up writing 10+ pages (which would be fun for nobody), and second, I’d simply never be happy with the final ranking. For those who do not already know, I love Sufjan Stevens. Like, in the top-0.05%-of-Spotify-listeners, logged-more-than-100-hours-of-listening, top-streamed-artist-of-all-time kind of way. So, when it comes to ranking albums in a definitive list, I can’t do it. I can’t.
However, that still won’t stop me from analyzing his discography some way or another. So, I created a tier list of his essential albums, and I placed each one in their proper rank. At the top, I placed the albums in “scream,” or the tier for those albums that elicit the rawest, most intense emotions—as well as those that demonstrate Stevens’ otherworldly talent. They may not be flawless, but they’re insanely good; like, no one can comprehend how some random man could make music like that. Right underneath I created the “perfect” tier, which is self-explanatory: they’re albums that are technically perfect and especially memorable. The “okay” tier is reserved for albums that have mostly good songs, but some skips or forgettable tracks; “hm” is for albums that are doing something really weird and don’t really work for the most part. Lastly, the “flop” tier is for flops. Sometimes, even the greatest of musicians flop.
I also set some ground rules, otherwise we’d be here all day. I did not include the two Christmas albums (I’ll talk about “Christmas Unicorn” later), any of the singles, the Greatest Gift EP (it’s a remix album of Carrie and Lowell), live albums, singles, or instrumental albums. I have thoughts on all of them (except maybe the instrumental albums…I don’t listen to them much admittedly), which I’ll share at the end. However, I just wanted to focus on what I deem the essential albums; they’re the most known and are the best representation of Stevens’ capabilities as an artist.
So, I present my official tier-based ranking of Sufjan Stevens’ (main) discography:
“Flop” Tier
This tier is only reserved for The Ascension (2021). It’s a more elaborate, electronica-based album, but its complexity ends up becoming its downfall. There is a lot going on in this album—the lyrics are vague and elusive, and the instrumentation seems to be a triumph in electronic maximalism—and there’s no space in my brain to make sense of it. I can only distinctly remember four songs: “Video Game” (the best on the album and the most fun Sufjan Stevens song), “Landslide,” “I Wanna Die Happy,” and “Gilgamesh.” “America” has a run time of over 12 minutes and repeats the same hook the entire time, so its lack of substance ends up being really disappointing. I, for the life of me, cannot remember how “Run Away With Me” goes despite it being the second-most popular song off the album. Stevens’ lyrics, which mostly deal with this pseudo-godlike status his fans have given him over the years (very “The Path” by Lorde of him), are also highly questionable in this album. It’s almost impossible to acknowledge that the same man who wrote the song “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross” wrote these following lyrics:
Girl…what?
I pretend this album doesn’t exist sometimes; but I will listen to “Video Game” on repeat because it’s a banger!
“Hm” Tier
A Sun Came (1999): For his debut album, A Sun Came is surely out there! You get the beautiful, gutwrenching metaphors in the lyrics of “Rake” and “Kill”; you get some experimental instrumental tracks that are…yeah (“Satan’s Saxophones”); you get electronica in “Joy! Joy! Joy!”; and you get quirky indie weirdness in “SuperSexyWoman.” Most of the songs sound like medieval wizard music, so it’s certainly a good album to listen to when you want to have a silly time.
The Avalanche (2006): It’s the Illinois (2005) B-sides and outtakes. I’m obsessed with the acoustic version of “Chicago”—I genuinely think I like it more than the original, though it’s really tough to decide—and “Saul Bellow” and “Carlyle Lake” are underrated Sufjan Stevens songs. Other than that, it’s not an album that makes you feel like you were missing out while listening to Illinois. I do f*****g love whenever Sufjan Stevens whips out the banjo, though, and this album has a lot of it.
“Okay” Tier
Unpopular opinon (very unpopular opinion, I know), but Age of Adz (2010) is not one of the best Sufjan Stevens album. Of the main albums most fans associate with Stevens, this certainly was his first huge departure from the indie-folk style adopted in the previous albums. It’s much more expansive in its sound, using swelling and elaborate electronica as the foundation for the tracks; there’s even a 25-minute electronic rock symphony that closes off the album in such a crazy, beautiful, incomprehensible way (“Impossible Soul”).
The most well-known songs off this album are some of Sufjan Stevens’ best songs ever written. “Futile Devices” has some of his best lyrics and acoustic guitar sections; “Vesuvius” makes me weep whenever I think of it; “All for Myself” is both lyrically and musically breathtaking; “Bad Communication” is an underrated favorite of mine; and “I Want To Be Well” simply makes me want to throw up. It’s crazy that all five of these songs are on one album, and four of them happen to be right next to each other. Approximately 17.5 minutes of untethered, raw human emotion, followed up by the 25-minute symphony.
However, I don’t remember any other song. The album is “okay” because, while there are these legendary tracks, they overshadow all the other songs, turning what could have been good standalone tracks into filler pieces. Compared to other albums, where no song is reduced to filler status and each track makes my mind explode, Age of Adz simply does not measure up. It’s just okay.
“Perfect” Tier
Michigan (2003): This album has everything: the perfect balance between experimental instrumental tracks (which all carry so much emotional weight with them) and lyrical ones, insanely incredible lyrics about so much childhood trauma, a banjo, pianos, local choirs as backup vocals, and folk! Michigan has one of the best opening tracks (“Flint”), as well as the most emotionally satisfying ending (“Redford” and “Vito’s Ordination Song”) in his discography. “Taquamenon Falls” may just be composed of an unstructured chorus of chimes and bells, but it provides the perfect air of childhood wonder and imagination necessary to tell the story of Stevens’ years in Michigan. Without these more whimsical parts of the album, we wouldn’t get any access to the artist’s childhood perspective; we’d just get the sad realizations of a depressed and deeply troubled adult. There would be no hope, no emotional relief, without the more whimsical parts. Also, the lyrics to “Romulus” and “Vito’s Ordination Song” go so crazy. I love this album so much.
A Beginner’s Mind (2021): I can’t make an intelligent review of this album; you just have to believe me that it’s perfect. Sometimes a concept album about exploring human emotion and relationships through cult classic films of the 20th Century can be something so beautiful… “Back to Oz” is Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine’s grooviest song yet; “Murder and Crime” is such a short yet emotionally devastating track that is my favorite off the album. “Reach Out” induced a full body reaction because I evidently have not been the same since it came out as a single in June 2021. For once, I listened to a Sufjan Stevens song and felt nothing but weightless joy (“It’s Your Own Body and Mind” and “Fictional California”); the easiness in some of these songs cannot go unnoticed. This album is perfect simply because it’s such an easy listen—one could listen to it fourteen times in a row (…like I did the day it came out) and never get tired—yet the lyrics and vocals keep you engaged with each track. It’s a triumph in metaphor and storytelling for Stevens, as well as a much needed return to the indie folk sound after The Ascension.
This album has, however, the worst album art. I don’t like it at all.
“Scream” Tier
A prior warning: I may not review the following albums intelligently from this point on.
Carrie and Lowell (2015): Music stopped existing after this album. I listened to it when it first came out (it was my introduction to Sufjan Stevens), and it altered my brain chemistry forever. It’s the cleanest Sufjan Stevens album—no fillers, no songs that go on for too long, perfect transitions, incredible tracks—and it’s his strongest lyrically. No song overpowers another, yet all of them are standalone masterpieces; like, you can’t even compare “The Only Thing” to “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross” (my two favorites) because they’re both so emotional, so raw, so heartbreaking, so intense, so precise with their language, and so well-articulated in completely different ways! “Eugene” and “Carrie and Lowell” act as interludes for the album, yet they contain individual stories that continue the greater narrative of Sufjan Stevens’ relationship with his mother in such mesmerizing ways, that you cannot ignore them. “Fourth of July” and “Blue Bucket of Gold” understand childhood disappointment and distorted memories tinged with so much tragedy in a way psychological studies can’t. I’m not even exaggerating! I’ve listened to Carrie and Lowell several thousand times at this point, and it never gets old or boring. Every relisten exposes something new about this album (or about me), and I will never stop praising it.
Illinois (2005): AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! The childlike wonder and magic about the Midwest, blossoming relationships, shades of melancholy that underline each song… it’s a love letter to a childhood that had so much beauty yet so much pain at the same time, and all of us are crying! The elaborate orchestra and use of the local children’s choir as backup vocals! The contrast with the banjo and/or guitar-forward ballads! The quirkiness of the song titles, beautiful interludes, and whatever the song “Decatur” has going on! “The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts” by itself! As I said before, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Nothing any songwriter ever produced has made me weep harder than Sufjan Stevens’ simple lines: “We lift our hands and pray over your body, / but nothing ever happens…” and “And he takes, and he takes, and he takes…” in “Casimir Pulaski Day.” I am on the floor clutching my stomach and sobbing after those line deliveries. “Chicago” is probably the most beautiful song in existence—from lyrics, to instrumentation, to vocals, to pure vibes, it’s so breathtaking and emotional in every capacity. “John Wayne Gacy Jr.” is so unbelievably sad for no reason, but we get immediate emotional relief with the groovy “Jacksonville,” elevating both songs to eternal greatness. Then, there’s “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get You!!!”, which I can’t explain without screaming. I love, love, love, love, love this album, and I don’t care that it’s fifty million hours long. It has forever changed my life in the best way possible.
Illinois also reminds me of my best friend. <3
Seven Swans (2004): I don’t care that this album slipped under the popularity radar, or if it isn’t his most elaborate, most “refined” album. This is Sufjan Stevens’ best folk album, and this is my personal album that makes me scream. It perfectly embodies the feeling of doing arts and crafts on weekends in my Catholic elementary school’s gym to prepare me for my First Communion. There’s something about it that’s so human about it—like he rearranged every part of Christian indoctrination into something he could personally understand, and it turned out to be really folksy and rustic but charming. It has some of his best lyrics concerning his complicated feelings toward his Christian upbringing, and as someone who relates a little too hard, this album just resonates with me in a way none of the others do. At some points, the lack of understanding one’s faith causes some of the most intense pain; at others, it gets reinforced through the special relationship one builds with friends. Seven Swans is an album I listen to in full, allowing each song to flow into the next. And then I sob to the titular track, “To Be Alone With You” and “Size Too Small” a lot.
All Delighted People (2010): For the companion piece to Age of Adz, this underrated album is so insane. I don’t care if 20 minutes are spent playing the same songs in two different versions because it actually produces a really nice effect that forces you to listen to “All Delighted People” from a whole new perspective after the four tracks in between. “Enchanted Ghost” is one of Sufjan Stevens’ best songs of all time, and “Heirloom” is also extremely underrated! “Djohariah” may be over 17 minutes, but every second of it is such a mind-bending pleasure, that I really don’t mind at all. This album isn’t the best Sufjan Stevens album, however—I think both of the albums in the “Perfect” tier are better in some ways—but I still put it in “scream” because it makes me scream! Like I said, it’s insanity how awesome Sufjan Stevens is in this album!
Rapid Reviews:
“Mystery of Love” deserved the Oscar in 2017, and “Visions of Gideon” also deserved a nomination.
“Tonya Harding in D major” is the better of the Tonya Harding singles. Also, I think it’s so fun Sufjan Stevens has beef with one celebrity, and it’s Tonya Harding.
“Christmas Unicorn” is the best Christmas song in existence. Even better than “O Holy Night,” one might say.
The Sufjan Stevens remix of Moses Sumney’s “Make Out in My Car” is better than Sumney’s original because Stevens gave it a religious twist.
“Wallowa Lake Monster,” “The Greatest Gift,” “The Hidden River of My Life,” and “City of Roses” are insanely good songs, and it’s unbelievable that they were only Carrie and Lowell outtakes.
I personally like the fingerpicking edition of “Drawn to the Blood” better than the original.
My favorite of the instrumental albums is Enjoy Your Rabbit (2004). I just think it’s a fun interpretation of what each animal would sound like.
I wish I experienced the Carrie and Lowell tour encore live. Imagine crying every tear in your body after experiencing a whole multimedia performance of his 2015 masterpiece, and then Sufjan Stevens appears in sunglasses and starts singing “Hot Line Bling.”
And finally:
Will Toledo, you were so wrong for hating on Carrie and Lowell. What, like your re-recording of Twin Fantasy wasn’t at least a tiny bit exploitative of your toxic and traumatic relationship that happened over ten years ago? Both of you are still great and the only celebrities where it makes sense you have a Tumblr. Also, you wrote “Bodys,” so all is forgiven.
If you’d like to listen to some Sufjan Stevens but don’t want to fall into the rabbit hole of going album by album, feel free to listen to my “Best of My Boy Sufjan” Playlist.*
Header image edited by author (evidently at 1:04 am). Please be kind.
*You will need a Spotify to listen to this playlist. Sorry in advance.
ranking ascension as a flop means we are gonna have to brawl
Where is Tanya Harding