Sufjan Stevens - Greetings from Michigan

We all believed Sufjan was going to at least give his 50 states project a pretty decent shot, right? And we all thought he missed a trick by not disguising The Avalanche's Illinois outtakes as Wyoming, yeah? While he may have since said he has no qualms about admitting it was a promotional gimmick, the first state to be put to record, his home of Michigan, didn't need any selling. Finding haunted beauty in Flint, the city which had previously been painted so bleakly by Michael Moore on film, was instantly remarkable as was the somehow unique songwriting style that followed over the next 14 tracks. (Padraic Halpin)