If you’ve looked at my Audioscrobbler output, you’ll see that I’ve had Sufjan Stevens’s Illinois on just about constantly since I got it.

And every time that something like “The Seer’s Tower” comes on and I get halfway through it and think, “Man, this is such a great song, but it’s so depressing-sounding, and … I’m trying to work here … and …”—”Decatur, or Round of Applause for Your Step Mother!” follows it, and … life is good again.

Sufjan definitely has his hook buried deeply in my cheek with this one. It’s really hard for me to describe it, because I’m still in the process of absorbing it all.