1. mhmusicnmovies

   10

   Sufjan Stevens finds his stride and then some with his second state-dedicated album. Illinois is fun and sad, catchy and haunting, seemingly simple yet undeniably brilliant. Chicago will be stuck in your head for days, The Predatory Wasp is heartbreaking and beautiful. Phenomenal stuff.… Expand

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     5 of 5 users said yes
2. 42MinuteMan

   4

   I find a few of the songs on this album absolutely brilliant and infectious. Then, I listed to all the lousy filler around the moments of brilliance, and I can't help but think this album is barely mediocre. I agree with the comments on the repetitiveness of the sound. This album doesn't go anywhere. It's cerianly worth a listen, but I doubt we'll be discussing the influence or brilliance of this album five years from now... especially since Sufjan will have released another record or two with the exact same sounds by that point.… Expand

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     0 of 0 users said yes
3. ACritic

   2

   Not convinced at all. This isn't an album about Illinois--it's yet another album about Sufjan, his favorite subject, and now he9;s trying to convince us he has something in common w/Gacy? Oh man, please... The songs are dull piano noodling that remind me of Roger Waters after The Wall. Writing songs about historical figures can be interesting (Dylan did this well) but Stevens just cannot move past his own private world and seems incapable of doing anything beyond songs whose titles carry more weight than the actual music. Look for him to stop writing music and become a poet soon. Thank god. Then I won't have to fast forward through his next record (which will sound exactly like this one which sounds exactly like the one before that) looking for some actual substance beyond the wimpiness. Go ahead. Keep giving it 10s. You'll listen to this thing at most twice, maybe three times, until your fellow hipsters have moved on to the next big thing, and you can quietly file it next to the first Strokes record, another substanceless over-hyped ultimately hollow artist.… Expand

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     0 of 0 users said yes

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