Sisyphus

Sisyphus is a collaboration between Chicago rapper Serengeti, New York producer Son Lux and Sufjan Stevens, the Michigan wiz kid and man enjoying a prolonged phase of genre hopping. It would be pleasing to report that this album sees the bringing together of three talented artists in unity of purpose with a clearly defined outcome. Unfortunately this record can't quite work out what it wants to be. First impressions after a number of listens are of a largely decent rap album with Sufjan playing the part of Marcus from Nick Hornby's "About a Boy" as a rather oddly located musical character trying to hang out with the cool kids. When finally the album does reveal greater depths it confirms the trajectory revealed on the "Age of Adz" demonstrating that Stevens is following an increasingly eclectic path albeit with varying degrees of success but nothing which comes close to matching the genius of his "50 States" albums.What is surprising about the album is the lack of synthesis between the artists. There are attempts to weld together songs but they sound forced and ill fitting. Thus "Dishes in the sink" is essentially a piece of minimalist electronica with some wistful Sufjan locked in the middle. Alternatively Serengeti's "Booty Call" could be by any rapper on the planet with the ubiquitous mother f***** references and hard attack. To be fair the wordy "Lion's Share" is much better but in terms of the excitement scale hardly registers and it has a rather silly chanted chorus. Echoes of past glories are also present on "My Oh My" which recalls the type of song structures that made "Come on Feel the Illnoise" so successful. But again the melding of this sweetness with rap seems odd bedfellows particularly with Son Lux's pulsating low end backing dominating proceedings. Another "Adz" like track by Stevens namely "Take Me" is quite beautiful, although a minute or so edited from its repetitive conclusion would not have gone amiss.The album is nonetheless partly redeemed by a number of songs. Stevens atmospheric "Hardly Hanging On" is a true beauty with the most delicate of vocals and haunting backdrop, it is nearly matched by the church like "I wont be afraid". The menacing "Flying Ace" also grows on repeated listens with a feel that would not be alien to Kayne West. Perhaps the track where all three elements work best together is "Rhythm of Devotion" where the inherent possibilities of the collaboration are fully worked through. Sisyphus is by no means a bad album but neither is it a great one. The listener is left at the albums conclusion with the clear impression that all three artists have and will make better solo albums. In the case of Sufjan Stevens it really would be nice to see his song writing given a much fuller outing at some point with an emphasis on melody as well as sound. At the end of the day this album deserves full marks for adventure but overall the sum of the parts does not equal the whole.