The Avalanche (album)

Recording and release

A press release on the Asthmatic Kitty website reported that the Illinois album was supposed to be a double record (with somewhere near 50 songs), but the idea was eventually scrapped. After the success of the album, Stevens returned to his analog 8-track recorder in late 2005 and began the process of finishing 21 of the previously abandoned songs, which would eventually become The Avalanche.

Stevens has stated during interviews that although he doesn't like The Avalanche as much as Illinois, he felt it was important to release the songs in light of the success of his most recent album. He has also said that he decided to release the album in order to buy time until his next "The 50 States" project," release. The album cover jokingly makes reference to the partially commercial reasons for the album's release, declaring that its contents were "shamelessly compiled by Sufjan Stevens".

In May 2006, Pitchfork Media was given permission to distribute the second track from The Avalanche, titled "Dear Mr. Supercomputer", on their website in MP3 format. The whole album was leaked to the Internet on May 9, 2006.

The track "No Man's Land" plays during the closing credits to the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine, which also features "Chicago" by Sufjan Stevens. The track "The Perpetual Self, or 'What Would Saul Alinsky Do?'" plays during the trailer for the film Babies.

Artwork

The cover features a cartoon depiction of Stevens wearing a cape and costume held aloft by strings, a likely reference to the image of Superman he was forced to remove from the cover of Illinois. He wears a shirt with a Block-type Serif letter I; the symbol of varsity athletics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The "Block I" appears several times in the album art. A Chevrolet Avalanche is featured on the cover, with an old-style Illinois License Plate which reads, "AKR 022", a reference to the catalog number of the album on Asthmatic Kitty Records. The license plate of the police car in the liner notes illustration reads "A NO NO". This is possibly a reference to the first track of the album Tell Another Joke at the Ol' Choppin' Block by the Danielson Famile. Sufjan is an honorary member of the Famile.

Track listing

1. "The Avalanche" – 3:14
2. "Dear Mr. Supercomputer" – 4:20
3. "Adlai Stevenson" – 2:34
4. "The Vivian Girls Are Visited in the Night by Saint Dargarius and His Squadron of Benevolent Butterflies" – 1:49
5. "Chicago" (Acoustic Version) – 4:40
6. "The Henney Buggy Band" – 3:16
7. "Saul Bellow" – 2:53
8. "Carlyle Lake" – 3:15
9. "Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in His Hair" – 4:17
10. "The Mistress Witch from McClure (or, The Mind That Knows Itself)" – 3:24
11. "Kaskaskia River" – 2:14
12. "Chicago" (Adult Contemporary Easy Listening Version) – 6:06
13. "Inaugural Pop Music for Jane Margaret Byrne" – 1:25
14. "No Man's Land" – 4:45
15. "The Palm Sunday Tornado Hits Crystal Lake" – 1:38
16. "The Pick-Up" – 3:27
17. "The Perpetual Self, or 'What Would Saul Alinsky Do?'" – 2:24
18. "For Clyde Tombaugh" – 3:43
19. "Chicago" (Multiple Personality Disorder Version) – 4:34
20. "Pittsfield" – 6:53
21. "The Undivided Self (For Eppie and Popo)" – 4:59

Thematic elements

As a pseudo-sequel to Illinois, this album follows the theme of Stevens' "fifty states" project: one album for each constituent state of the United States of America. Explicit and implicit references are made to Illinois persons, places, and institutions throughout the songs. Note that the song "Chicago" originally appeared on the Illinois album. The following list may not be complete:

1. "The Avalanche"
2. Illinois, "my home"
3. Chevrolet Avalanche
4. Ohio River
5. Mississippi River
6. "Dear Mr. Supercomputer"
7. Supercomputers housed at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's National Center for Supercomputing Applications
8. Superman
9. Secular humanism and God Is Dead
10. Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation
11. "Adlai Stevenson"
12. Adlai Stevenson, former United States ambassador to the United Nations and governor of Illinois
13. United States presidential election, 1952
14. Stevenson's accidental shooting death of a playmate, Ruth Merwin, as a young child
15. "The Vivian Girls Are Visited in the Night by Saint Dargarius and His Squadron of Benevolent Butterflies"
16. Henry Darger's 15-volume outsider art manuscript The Story of the Vivian Girls
17. "Chicago" (Acoustic Version)
18. Chicago, Illinois
19. New York City, New York
20. "The Henney Buggy Band"
21. Henney Buggy Company, an automobile manufacturer from Freeport, Illinois
22. Ronald Reagan Tollway
23. Bloomington, Illinois
24. "Saul Bellow"
25. Saul Bellow
26. Lake Michigan, which borders Illinois
27. "Carlyle Lake"
28. Carlyle Lake, a man-made lake in Carlyle, Illinois
29. "Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in His Hair"
30. Shadfly, a colloquial name for the mayfly
31. State capitol Springfield, Illinois
32. "Capitol Air," or Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield, Illinois
33. "The Mistress Witch from McClure (Or, the Mind that Knows Itself)"
34. McClure in Alexander County
35. "Kaskaskia River"
36. Kaskaskia River
37. "Chicago" (Adult Contemporary Easy Listening Version)
38. Adult contemporary and easy listening music genres
39. "Inaugural Pop Music for Jane Margaret Byrne"
40. Pop music
41. Jane Byrne, former mayor of Chicago
42. "No Man's Land"
43. No man's land, although there is none currently in Illinois
44. O'Hare International Airport
45. Jo Daviess County, Illinois
46. Moline, Illinois
47. Panola, Illinois
48. St. Charles, Illinois
49. Danville, Illinois
50. Macon County, Illinois
51. Mississippi River
52. Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land"
53. "The Palm Sunday Tornado Hits Crystal Lake"
54. Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965
55. Crystal Lake, Illinois
56. "The Pick-Up"
57. Pickup trucks
58. Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln
59. "The Perpetual Self, or What Would Saul Alinsky Do?"
60. Saul Alinsky
61. "For Clyde Tombaugh"
62. Clyde Tombaugh
63. "Chicago" (Multiple Personality Disorder Version)
64. Dissociative identity disorder, or multiple personality disorder
65. "Pittsfield"
66. Pittsfield, Illinois
67. Gulf War
68. "The Undivided Self (For Eppie and Popo)"
69. Identical twin sisters Ann "Eppie" Landers (born Esther Pauline Friedman Lederer) and Abigail "Popo" Van Buren (pen name of Pauline Phillips for the advice column Dear Abby)
70. The Undivided Self (ISBN 0-87784-842-4)

Other references Stevens alludes to "You Never Give Me Your Money" from the 1969 Beatles album Abbey Road in "Dear Mr. Supercomputer". The original line is "One Two Three Four Five Six Seven / All good children go to heaven." Stevens' lyric is "One Two Three Four Five Six Seven / All computers go to heaven."

Critical reception

The album ranked 9th on both Almost Cool's Best of 2006 and on Uncut's Best of 2006. The album made several other Best of 2006 lists.

Sales chart history

The album debuted at number 71 on the Billboard Top 200, making it the second-highest charting Sufjan Stevens release at the time.

Personnel