The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Thursday, November 9, 2017 — 3B
ASTHMATIC KITTY
Sufjan Stevens is a srange, beautiful man
The compelling faith of
musician Sufjan Stevens
How the artist managed to deliver religion to those who reject it
Sufjan Stevens has never hid
his faith. Throughout his work,
he borrows extensively from
Christian imagery. I always had
viewed his frequent religious
allusions as just another one
of his characteristic oddities,
akin to his absurd song titles
and state-themed albums. It’s
not as though Christianity
is
universally
present
in
his works: Sure, if you only
listened to Seven Swans, you
might assume Sufjan to be an
aspiring member of the clergy,
but if you had only heard The
Age of Adz you would never
know he was religious at all.
However, my views changed
when I read his blog post that
compared artistic creation to
the Christian concept of the
Eucharist — Sufjan views the
artist as transforming their
spirit into a tangible creation
as an act of generosity. His
blog made me realize that
Sufjan’s
views
on
religion
were
much
more
complex
and idiosyncratic than I had
initially viewed them.
I, being irreligious, have
never had a positive impression
of “Christian music,” always
viewing it as exclusive or
pandering.
Stevens
inverts
those
stereotypes.
His
religious
inclinations
feel
wholly genuine and inclusive,
a reflection of his personal
experience without artifice.
It
is
what
separates
him
from the music labelled as
“Christian,” that he himself
described in a 2006 interview
with Delucions of Adequacy
as
existing
“exclusively
within
the
few
insulated
floors (cubicles and computers
included) of some corporate
construction
in
Nashville,
Tenn.” Rather than being stiff
and preachy, Sufjan’s faith is
malleable and subjective; it is
open for interpretation. The
way that Sufjan incorporates
Christianity into his work
proves that artists don’t have to
label themselves as “Christian
music” or beat the listener
over the head with a neon bible
to do so. His hymns are not
agents of proselytization or
ecclesiastical drones, but the
earnest products of an attempt
to
create
beauty
through
expression.
Sufjan’s
most
overtly
religious
work
is
Seven
Swans,
an
acoustic-folk
album he released in 2005.
The album is littered with
Christian
allusions
and
spiritual overtones, including
two songs (“Abraham” and
“The Transfiguration”) that
are actual Biblical tales. Yet,
Sufjan made his position clear
with DOA: “I don’t make faith-
based music,” he said. This
is a confusing statement at
first — this guy just made a
song consisting of the story of
the Transfiguration of Christ
with a banjo playing in the
background,
and
now
he’s
saying that he doesn’t make
faith-based music? The key
word here is “based”: while
Sufjan
often
infuses
faith
into his music, his religion is
never the basis of his creation.
In that same interview, he
provides further clarification:
“It’s not so much that faith
influences us as it lives in us.
In every circumstance (giving
a speech or tying my shoes),
I am living and moving and
being. This absolves me from
ever making the embarrassing
effort to gratify God (and the
church) by imposing religious
content on anything I do,” he
said. To view certain songs
as “Christian music” implies
that there is some distinction
between the religion of the
artist and the rest of their
existence.
Part of what makes Sufjan’s
faith compelling is that he isn’t
afraid to publicly wrestle with
it — in the elegiac “Casimir
Pulaski Day,” Sufjan tells the
story of a female friend who
was
diagnosed
with
bone
cancer. “Tuesday night at the
Bible study, we lift our hands
and pray over your body but
nothing ever happens,” he
sings. The creeping doubt,
the “nothing ever happens,”
is the subtle thread that runs
through the narrative of the
track. In the final line, after
Sufjan’s friend passes away,
the religious conflict comes
to the forefront: “All the glory
when He took our place, but
He took my shoulders and He
shook my face, and He takes
and He takes and He takes.”
Sufjan offers questions but
no answers — his doubt is not
assuaged, and he is just left
with his confusion: he doesn’t
understand why the glorious
God who sacrificed his son in
the place of humanity continues
to take with no recompense.
There is no answer. The song
is over. Sufjan isn’t the type
to conclude with a moralizing
statement, or some life lesson.
He tells his story, and he tells
it as well as he can. This lack of
an ulterior motive, be it piety
or proselytization, is what
sets Sufjan apart from other
Christian musicians. In the
DOA interview, he concurs:
“On an aesthetic level, faith
and art are a dangerous match.
Today, they can quickly lead to
devotional artifice or didactic
JONAH MENDELSON
Daily Arts Writer
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
ASTHMATIC KITTY
So strange, so beautiful he even has wings
crap. This would summarize
the
Christian
publishing
world or the Christian music
industry.”
Another point of curiosity
in
Sufjan’s
music
is
the
relationship
between
his
Christian
beliefs
and
his
slightly-less-than-ambiguous
sexuality, with songs such as
“Futile Devices,” “The Owl
and the Tanager” and “All for
Myself” all depicting a love
interest of Sufjan’s as male. In
both “To Be Alone With You”
and “John My Beloved,” the
narrator addresses a “you” in
an intimate manner who can
be interpreted as either Jesus
or a male lover. While many
Christians would view these
two identities as conflicting,
Sufjan seems to be asserting
that they can coexist. The
only hint he gives of conflict
between his faith and the
homosexual
undertones
in
his music can be found in
the
song
“The
Predatory
Wasp of the Palisades Is Out
to Get Us!” in which Sufjan
narrates
an
experience
he
had at a Methodist summer
camp: The lyrics imply an
intimate love between Sufjan
and his male friend, with
an ominous wasp hovering
overhead as Sufjan’s feelings
progress. This ominous wasp
can be interpreted as Sufjan’s
reservations about this same-
sex
attraction
brought
on
by his religious upbringing,
a
disquieting
presence
threatening its harsh sting.
Also worth mentioning are
the two Christmas albums. A
seamless mixture of the sacred
and the secular; the 52-track
long Silver & Gold contains
both a faithful rendition of
“Break Forth O Beauteous
Heavenly Light” and a twelve
minute long original work
entitled “Christmas Unicorn”
that itself includes a lengthy
interpolation of Joy Division.
Somehow, these two songs feel
as though they belong together,
united
by
Sufjan’s
earnest
nature and vision of beauty
in spite of their ostensibly
different tones.
Sufjan’s Christianity, in its
honesty and unashamed doubt,
succeeds in doing what the
best efforts of the neon Bible-
thumpers in Nashville could
not — providing a wholesome
form of music that discusses
faith
while
still
appealing
to non-believers. Of course,
Sufjan was only able to achieve
this because he is not trying to.
“Christian music,” as a genre,
will always feel duplicitous to
nonbelievers — they know that
they are trying to be convinced
of something; the whole genre
is a tool of conversion (a clumsy
one, at that) rather than art.
Sufjan, in total contrast, only
includes faith when it adds to
the final artistic product; it is
never the goal, only the means.
Sufjan is not a Christian artist.
He is an artist who is Christian.
I, being
irreligious,
have never
had a positive
impression of
“Christian music”
that, I feel overjoyed and
accomplished.”
Citing Peggy James’s “Bring
in Your Glory,” as her favorite
song
to
perform,
Hamilton
spoke to the value of tradition
within the Chorale:
“This is a song that has been
sung each year, and every MGC
member, past and present, has
known or will know this song. It
is one that brings us all together
as one big family.”
Exuding nothing but warmth,
MGC
is
effervescent
and
inspired and filled to the brim
with pure, unfettered joy. A
loving bunch, its members are
bound together by their shared
convictions and a collective
goal. KHK, albeit stemming
from another religion, is no
different in this regard.
“No matter the level of
observance, Judaism is another
aspect of our group, in addition
to us all loving music and
singing, that we all have in
common,” Bruder wrote. “Of
course, UofM has a prevalent
Jewish population, and KHK is
one niche-group that can make
Michigan’s Jewish community
even smaller for people who
want to become involved but
don’t know where to start.”
Integrating its members own
personalities into its collective
range, KHK sings American pop
songs, in addition to Hebrew
and Jewish pop songs.
“Right now, our repertoire
includes some Idan Raichel (a
GOSPEL
From Page 2B
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popular Israeli artist) songs,
as well as ‘Drop the Game’ by
Flume and Chet Faker, ‘Sunday
Candy’ by Chance the Rapper,
and ‘Electric Love’ by Børns,”
Bruder wrote. “I love that each
semester is different in terms of
songs we learn, and the positive
messages in all of them reflect
who we are as a group.”
KHK
is
a
multifaceted
team, including students in
engineering; pre-law; the School
of Music, Theatre & Dance; pre-
med; and pre-social work.
“Each semester brings in
new members with completely
different backgrounds, and I
have enjoyed becoming best
friends with a group of people
who have various passions but
can come together to make
good music,” Bruder wrote. “I
have always loved a cappella,
even before ‘Pitch Perfect,’
and knowing I have a space
on campus for a performance
outlet has made my Michigan
experience so much better.”
Both groups have regular
shows, the next one being in
December for KHK. It will also
be performing this February at
the game between the Detroit
Pistons
and
the
Portland
Trailblazers.
MGC
regularly
holds a benefit concert, a fall
concert and a spring concert,
all free of charge. Its chief event
each year is a Spring Break
tour, during which its members
minister at various churches
and colleges across the nation.
I think a lot of what I found
charming about collegiate a
cappella — back in those ill-
fated, Vicodin-hazed days of
senior year — was that everyone
involved had an incredible trust
in one another. Grounded by
their principles, MGC and KHK
comprise individuals who have
faith — faith in their religions,
faith in their talents and faith in
one another.
It’s
nice
to
believe
in
something,
whatever
or
whoever that “something” may
be. These religiously driven
a cappella groups on campus
are such a beautiful example
of the overwhelming bliss that
comes from simply believing
in
something.
Using
their
principles to inform their art,
the Michigan Gospel Chorale
and Kol HaKavod are two —
of many — University outlets
through which students can
stand firm in their convictions
while furthering their artistry
and deepening their friendships.
Of course, Sufjan
was only able
to achieve this
because he is not
trying to
IF THE MET BALL CAN TAKE ON
CATHOLICISM, WE CAN TAKE ON
ANYTHING.
EVEN YOU.
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