Pitchfork

The man dreams big. A mere two states (and four albums) into his absurdly ambitious 50 States project, Sufjan Stevens has already embraced lavish costumes, ridiculously long song titles, and lushly orchestrated multi-part jams. His backing ensemble grows exponentially with each new tour, and he recently announced the inclusion of a 24-piece choir at a couple forthcoming Berkeley gigs. So what's next for this big dreamer? Dreaming bigger, of course.

Dubbing himself the "Majesty Songbird" and his band the "Magical Butterfly Brigade" (to the tune of self-aware tongue scraping cheek), Stevens has been playing new composition and tour theme song "Majesty Snowbird" on his autumn jaunt-- to sea after sea of melted faces. Web consensus seems to be that this latest Stevens opus takes breathes, jerks tears, and affirms lives like no other.

Rather than invoke the Reich-reaching minimalist vibes of "Chicago", "Snowbird" sees Sufjan opting for Glass-shattering, epic film score orchestral sweep. It's just a monster, a massive and massively beautiful ten-minute sonic maelstrom, and between this and the new Newsom disc, big is coming back in a very big way.

See and hear for yourself by checking out the mp3 and two full-length videos below. The first vid captures winged Sufjan close up at New York's Town Hall (September 29), and comes courtesy of blog Brooklyn Vegan, while the second shows the whole Butterfly Brigade in action, thanks to Live Music Blog. Send a note of gratitude to blog The Rawking Refuses to STOP for the mp3.

It's not too late to catch this feel good hit of the fall as Sufjan's Majesty Snowbird tour wraps up next week on the West Coast, then migrates abroad. Dates ahead.

10-09 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern *
10-10 Berkeley, CA - Zellerbach Hall *
10-11 Berkeley, CA - Zellerbach Hall *
10-13 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom *
10-14 Vancouver, British Columbia - St. Andrew's Cathedral *
10-15 Seattle, WA - Paramount *
11-01 Dublin, Ireland - Olympia #
11-02 Manchester, England - Academy 2 #
11-03 London, England - Barbican #
11-05 Gent, Belgium - Vooruit #
11-07 Barcelona, Spain - Casino L Allanca #
11-09 Paris, France - Le Bataclan #
11-10 Cologne, Germany - Gloria #
11-11 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso #
11-12 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega #
11-14 Oslo, Norway - Sentrum Scene #
11-15 Stockholm, Sweden - Berns #
11-17 Reykjavik, Iceland - Frikirkjan Church #
11-18 Reykjavik, Iceland - Frikirkjan Church #

* with My Brightest Diamond
# with St. Vincent