Suggest New Bands and Artists

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Sufjan Stevens

Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Suggest New Bands and Artists
Forum Description: Suggest, create polls, and classify new bands you would like included on Prog Archives
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11400
Printed Date: July 18 2025 at 16:31
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Topic: Sufjan Stevens

Posted By: The Minstrel
Subject: Sufjan Stevens
Date Posted: September 11 2005 at 19:09

Sufjan Stevens is a beautiful folk songwriter with his own orchestra. He is currently doing a concept album for each of the 50 states and already has done Michigan and Illnoise. He has some relativiely long songs that are definetly prog and is experimental. Anyone like him or agree?

Replies:

Posted By: morpheusdraven
Date Posted: September 11 2005 at 19:32

I LOVE him and just saw him live this past wednesday, amazing show.

I think he's progressive but not "prog," such an asinine distinction but
one that makes all the difference in the world to most folks here. He's
definitely brilliant, and got a good sense of lengthy multi-part suites as
well as just amazing songwriting and lyricism all around, and his albums
that aren't for the 50 states project are quite good (one is sort of
electronica/glitch, one I haven't heard and one is stripped down but in
the same vein as the 50 states albums). But I really think prog
traditionalists would fight harder than I'm willing to in order to keep the
site "pure" or whatever, so I would be reluctant.

Posted By: Bryan
Date Posted: September 11 2005 at 19:49

I love Sufjan, but I'd also be hesitant to declare him prog. Sure there's precedent for it, he's definitely breaking countless conventions in folk, singer/songwriter and indie rock, but at the same time his song structures are fairly straightforward and I can't help considering such a decision to be a bit of a stretch. The allmusic guide DOES list him as "progressive folk", and I certainly wouldn't oppose seeing him here. That said, I'm not prepared to vouch for his inclusion either.