Iron & Wine can make a whole album that's good. Sufjan can't.

Is everyone forgetting Illinoise? Sufjan should be winning this vs thread by the strength of that album alone.

That album wasn't good. It just had a few memorable songs. As a whole it was garbage.

I'm confused about the comparison you're drawing but you would do well to understand that Elliott is criminally overrated, both here and elsewhere. I don't really have a deep attachment to any of them, tbh.

I actually think Michigan is a better overall album than Illinoise.

for srs?

The problem with Suf is tht all his albums are full of filler. It's not bad filler, but it's not nearly as good as the main tracks.

Then I don't take you for a full album experience kind of person, or you lost your attention span while listening, which I don't blame anyone for since the album is over an hour long.

I would have taken mediocre, or even lackluster, but "garbage"? Give the album another listen, just you and the music - maybe you'll get it. Go beyond the music, mate. The album is filled with history, references and stories.

^ and as for Michigan, I haven't listened to that one yet. I understand it's more acoustic, which is neat, but I like the grandiose feeling of Illinoise.

Anyways it makes me happy that Sufjan is tied with Iron & Wine. The world may be saved yet.

Illinois is an amazing album but I think the reason I don't like it as much as Michigan is that it is really long (I know this isn't the greatest reason to not like an album but theres more to it). There is a lot more filler on this album than in Michigan, and I think it has a worse filler to good song ratio. I also think that listening to Michigan all at once is a better experience than listening to Illinois.

Michigan is probably one of my favorite albums in the past ten years. I think it is the perfect length. To me, there really isn't much filler at all. Besides a couple of his 2-minute ambient tracks it is full of some great folk tunes. Also, listening to the album progress is really amazing. The first track is really stripped down, and quite somber. Then when once you get to the end you have this big songs with some Philip Glass-ness to them and some really great ambience thrown in.

I could go on and on about that album but I just wanted to clarify why I think it is better than Illionois. These two state-themed albums are the reason I chose Sufjan over I&W. I'm really hoping that Sufjan keeps up with the states.

Sufjan Stevens for me!

Both are good, but Stevens has the edge in my opinion.