Sufjan on Illinois live show | Pitchfork Interview

Pitchfork: After you did build up an audience, with Michigan and Seven Swans, your tours became more ambitious. Did you have live performance in mind when you were writing these songs?

Sufjan: No, not at all. The cheerleading thing came after I’d written the songs. I was pretty nearsighted in the construction of Illinois. I spent a lot of time alone, a few months in isolation working on my own and in the studio. I let things germinate and cultivate independently, without thinking about an audience or a live show at all. The live show, for me, was trying to present the pageantry of the album live. I don’t know if I ever did that successfully.

THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW @ PITCHFORK