In news that should make Lee DeWyze green with envy, orchestral indie-pop impresario Sufjan Stevens is said to finally be working on his official follow-up to 2005’s Illinois—and he’s reportedly doing it with the help of dapper, brooding Brooklyn band The National. That group’s Bryce Dessner recently told Exclaim that Stevens has been holed up in its studio diligently working on tracks, some of which feature backing from The National. Unsurprisingly, Dessner added that the new album doesn’t sound like anything Stevens has done in the past, and proposed that it will “probably blow people’s minds,” which we’re sure some of the more jaded out there will scoff at as hyperbole. But seeing as The National and Sufjan Stevens are both responsible for some of the best records of the past decade, the idea of them collaborating definitely sounds promising.
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