song of the day...

"The Seer's Tower" - Sufjan Stevens

For those of you not familiar with Sufjan Stevens, I would place him in the neo-folk genre of the male singer/songwriters. He's an American multi-instrumentalist and singer who is hoping to write an album dedicated to each of the 50 states in the US.

So far he's done two.

At least he's only 31; but still, if he can only pull off one a year, I hope the last few states aren't some sort of geriatric easy-listening fluff.

Anyways, "The Seer's Tower" is from the Illinoise album. This song, no matter what I'm doing at the time, always stops me dead when I hear it. It's so simple yet so effective.

Just voice, some keyboards/synths, a piano, tambourine. But if you want to talk about hearing the grain of the voice, this song is a prime example. Not only can you hear the grain, but you can practically feel him playing the piano. Breathtaking.

The highlight for me is the third verse where the mood intensifies, but the piano decides to back off and place the emphasis more off-the-beat, delaying the downbeat, and trying to cut through the tension while simultaneously creating more.

Listen to this song. This is not a just a suggestion.