Today has got nothing on this day last year.

I have read four reviews of the Age of Adz that refer to it as ‘challenging’ for Sufjan Stevens fans. I would have to agree. Today at school, while I was waiting for my next class to start, I sat in the library and forced myself (the word choice is not accidental nor hyperbolical) to listen to his newest album from beginning to end. After the first run through, I started it all over again. I am seeing him perform live this Friday at the Mesa Arts Center. And I am equal parts excited and disappointed, oddly enough it is what excites me which also disappoints me. I am excited that I am seeing the new, ‘different’ Sufjan perform while disappointed that I was never given a chance to see the old, ‘normal’ Sufjan on the stage, backed up by an entire orchestra, decked out in matching uniforms and butterfly wings.