This article was originally published in 2020, but we’re updating it for Sufjan Stevens’ birthday on July 1st.
Sufjan Stevens has come to be one of the quintessential voices in contemporary indie rock, but it’s not a title he earned overnight. The songwriter is known for being prolific, having written eight solo studio albums, several collaborative albums, original material for Luca Guadagnino’s 2017 film Call Me by Your Name, and even multiple Christmas albums.
He writes, performs, and records most of the music himself, sometimes playing more than 10 instruments on a single record. He even once vowed to make an album for each of the 50 US states (though, we all know how that turned out). Throughout each of his records, he’s explored banjo-led folk, electro-pop, grandiose indie rock, glitchy experimentalism, and instrumental new-age music. Stevens is the epitome of a musical polymath.
What’s impressive about someone with as many albums as Stevens is that he’s never done the same thing twice. Sure, he’s explored the same genre more than once, but he always surfaces with different results. He’s released electronic records such as Enjoy Your Rabbit and Aporia, but one is a glitchy record revolving around the Chinese zodiac while the other is a new-age-inspired album.
He’s created folk albums like Seven Swans and Carrie & Lowell, but the former was written on banjo and explores his Christian faith while the latter is a personal rumination on the death of Stevens’ mother and the turbulent relationship they had. He’s made two albums entirely about the states of Michigan and Illinois, and the differences between those are fairly evident.
We’re diving headfirst into the songwriter’s mountainous catalog, including his collaborative albums (but not his Christmas albums for obvious reasons). From A Sun Came! to A Beginner’s Mind, here’s our definitive ranking of every Sufjan Stevens album.
— Grant Sharples
