Sufjan Stevens + DM Stith

Even in his days as a whispery-voiced troubadour, there was no doubting Sufjan Stevens’s brilliance as a musician or the dizzying scope of his ambition—from his intricate chamber-folk tributes to Illinois and Michigan to his multimedia meditation on the BQE. Stevens’s sixth album, The Age of Adz, however, is a game changer, just as the events that shaped it apparently rerouted the course of the musician’s life. Retrofuturistic synth sounds burble and splutter alongside orchestral flourishes, and galumphing, righteous songs sit side by side with shimmering, exquisite choral arrangements. Over time, the record reveals itself as a perfectly paced pop suite. Bloomington, IN, songman DM Stith makes spooky, spindly music that conjures many spirits: His wavering voice recalls Kentucky murder balladeer John Jacob Niles and there are skittering drumbeats that suggest Kid A. His music has found fans in Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste, Bat for Lashes and Sufjan himself—Stith is signed to Stevens's Asthmatic Kitty label.