Pitchfork Forkcast: Video: Sufjan Stevens: "The Lakes of Canada" (the Innocence Mission cover) (live on the "Take-Away Show")

Video: Sufjan Stevens: "The Lakes of Canada" (the Innocence Mission cover) (live on the "Take-Away Show")

Our friends at La Blogotheque have been celebrating quite a few landmarks recently; first, they offered six previously unaired videos as part of their one-year birthday special, now they honor their 50th show by presenting 30 minutes worth of video and music recorded at April's MusicNOW Festival in Cincinnati. This 50th episode special features performances from Clogs ft. Shara Worden, Amiina, Havolvi, David Cossin, Pedro Soler, the Osso Quartet, and Sufjan Stevens, who plays a solo banjo version of "The Lakes of Canada". And while that may sound like a tailor-made Sufjan title, it's actually a cover of a song by the Innocence Mission from their 1999 album Birds of My Neighborhood. The track is a long-time Stevens favorite-- when asked in 2004 to select a "perfect song" by NPR's "All Songs Considered", the singer/songwriter picked this one, praising it as "a small song that makes careful observations about everyday life." (That program, which also featured Ben Gibbard on the La's, Ted Leo on the Small Faces, Travis Morrison on Talking Heads, Roger McGuinn on Pete Seeger, Cex on Kate Bush, and John Vanderslice on the Kinks can be heard here.)