Pitchfork

Looks like two can play this review game: newly bearded Sufjan Stevens ditched the wings and donned his critic's cap, today posting a live review on Asthmatic Kitty's website of a January 17 show at New York's Tonic. The performer? None other than bandmate/labelmate/BFF My Brightest Diamond.

(UPDATE: It seems that Mr. Stevens had a very busy evening on January 17. He also reviewed the Curtains show at Cake Shop that same night for the Asthmatic Kitty website. Sorry we missed that the first time!)

Before you raise the conflict-of-interest flags, however, note that while Asthmatic bills the piece as a "Live Review", it's really more of a heartfelt appreciation-- a platform upon which Sufjan extolls the musical virtues of Shara Worden, ponders the metaphysics of show-going and having so many friends, and geeks out like the classically trained musician he is (OMG Interlochen!). We already know Sufjan has some lit game, and here he flosses it with eloquence.

Sufjan also discussed openers Soovin Kim (violin) and Jeremy Denk (piano), who rocked some Charles Ives compositions-- "This, thankfully, dampens the party vibe in the room," said Sufjan-- and avant-pianist Gabriel Kahane, whose pieces included "a meandering lieder based on Craigslist entries." Stevens approached the young man afterwards: "By the bar, I tell him it would make a stunning Broadway show. Better than Cats. I regret saying it. Gabriel looks mortified. Have I dampened the party vibe even further?"

Hahaha, that Sufjan, always so self-deprecating! Hah. Hah. Anyway.

Of Worden, Sufjan wrote, "Shara is one of a kind. With the elegance and responsibility of a great performer, she reconciles the academia of Ives with the jousting of Broadway without even trying. Her songs draw you in, settle in your gut, stick with you for days, but without the ordinary flourishes of pop music, or the formal pageantry of classical music."

Read Sufjan's entire five-paragraph essay here.

Oh, and our Suf-radars tell us that Mr. Stevens is fast approaching from several directions: he covers "Free Man in Paris" on that Joni Mitchell tribute, out April 24, joins pals Rosie Thomas and Denison Witmer for some tunes on Rosie's These Friends of Mine, out now digitally and next month physically, and performs-- along with My Brightest Diamond-- at the previously reported Music Now festival (Cincinnati; April 5-7). Sufjan also plays Grand Rapids' Calvin College on March 30 and appears in the Danielson movie, coming to DVD April 10. Whew.

Finally, My Brightest Diamond, as you know, hits the road next month with the Decemberists. Prior to that she bounds across Europe with elegance and responsibility and stuff like that.

My Brightest Diamond:

02-08 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC2
02-11 Manchester, England - Late Room
02-12 Brussels, Belgium - AB Club
02-13 Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Paradiso
02-14 Cologne, Germany - Gebäude 9
02-16 Frankfurt, Germany - Brotfabrik
02-17 Berlin, Germany - Mudd Club
02-19 Milan, Italy - La Casa
02-20 Turin, Italy - Spazio 211
02-21 Winterthur, Switzerland - Salzhaus
02-22 Fribourg, Switzerland - Fri-Son
02-25 Grenoble, France - La Ciel
02-26 Paris, France - La Maronquinerie
02-27 Tourcoing, France - Le Grd Mix
02-28 London, England - Bush Hall
03-21 Jersey City, NJ - Loews Theater #
03-22 Jersey City, NJ - Loews Theater #
03-23 Boston, MA - Avalon #
03-24 Boston, MA - Avalon #
03-26 North Bethesda, MD - Strathmore Music Center #
03-27 Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theater #
03-28 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse Music Hall
03-30 Buffalo, NY - Center for the Arts #
03-31 Grantham, PA - Messiah College #
04-01 Norfolk, VA - The Norva #
04-02 Raleigh, NC - Meymendi Concert Hall #
04-04 Knoxville, TN - Tennessee Theater #
04-06 Cincinnati, OH - Memorial Hall *
04-08 Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live #
04-09 Tallahassee, FL - The Moon #
04-10 Birmingham, AL - Alabama Theater #
04-11 Memphis, TN - New Daisy Theater #
04-13 Louisville, KY - Brown Theater #
04-14 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant #
04-15 Champaign, IL - Foellinger Auditorium (University of Illinois) #
04-16 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater #
04-18 Chicago, IL - Riviera Theater #
04-19 Chicago, IL - Riviera Theater #
04-20 Madison, WI - Orpheum Theater #
04-21 Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater #
04-22 Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium #
04-25 San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theater #
04-26 San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theater #
05-03 Eugene, OR - McDonald Theater #
05-04 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theater #
05-05 Bellingham, WA - Western Washington University #

# with the Decemberists
* with Amiina