Blending afrobeat choruses with power ballad tendencies, as gospel choirs wail in the lower volumes of the mix probably isn't precisely what one may expect from a first glimpse into the pulsating organs of Sufjan Stevens' forthcoming record, The Age Of Adz. After all, this is the infuriatingly gifted songster that invited us to share the compositional creativity of Come On Feel The Illinoise, to wallow in disdain to Seven Swans and struggle to grapple coherence on The BQE. Quite which state The Age Of Adz represents, and how many he's actually covered in his unthinkably unconquerable quest to record an album indebted to each and every one of America's (often questionably) 'Great' States is as debatable as the contemporary cultural relevance of Jeremy Clarkson but that's all besides the point. I Walked, the first cut from Stevens' umpteenth LP, expected early October, is tinged with a secular fervour, cascading into a depthless splendour that's irrefutably absolute. Now come on Sufjan, sail to Blighty in a papier-mâché float, teach us the correct pronunciation of that name of yours, institutionalise musicianship, toast us marshmallows and play a show or two. Pretty please...
