The Age of Ad, Asthmatic Kitty****

We know by now that Sufjan Stevens is not quite like the other kids - the Michigan man has proven himself to be as ambitious as he is eccentric. On

The Age of Adz

(pronounced "odds"), his idiosyncratic imagination manifests itself in a sprawling collection of songs that mechanically rattle and clank, hiss, shudder, croon, pluck and elegantly sweep their way through 75 minutes. Perhaps the two bookending songs, disparate yet no less engaging, say it all.

Futile Devices

is a beautifully sparse acoustic love song, while Impossible

Soul

is a 25 minute- long montage of ghostly vocals, r'n'b grooves,

Space Invader

- style glitchiness, AutoTune (AutoTune!), vocoder and pastoral plucked guitar. It's all either insanely self-indulgent or a work of semi-genius. We'll give Stevens the benefit of the doubt this time. See sufjan.com

Download tracks : Impossible Soul, Futile Devices