"Saturn" by Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, & James McAlister, Monday, June 21, 2021
Composed as one of his ensemble works, Nico Muhly collaborated with three musicians to produce his 2017 work, Planetarium. The work atmospheric electronica rather than an orchestra, but the powerful songs might remind classical music listeners of Gustav Holst's 1917 work which packed as much if not more creative punch, The Planets, which innovated classical music and introduced techniques to modern music like the fade out and 5/4 timing. Muhly calls on the work of drummer James McAlister, The National's guitarist Bryce Dessner, and the vocals of Sufjan Stevens. The National being an artistic (and pretentious to some) band with Dessner collaborating with everyone from Taylor Swift to Phillip Glass, and Sufjan Stevens coming off of his folk record Carrie & Lowell, Planetarium is a quite musical experience, a soundtrack for gazing into the summer night sky.
I'LL CONSUME THE CHILD THAT TRAILS ME. For the songs that have lyrics, Stevens pulls inspiration from a number of sources--Greek/Roman mythology, the planet itself, Christianity, astrology, and hinduism are all fair game. The monologue that Stevens creates for "Saturn" is quite a chilling narrative. By the fourth line of the song the speaker, the god himself, reminds acknowledges his most notorious incident: eating his children. Stevens was particularly inspired by the Goya painting, Saturn Devouring His Son, the grotesque image of the very worst of the Titans. Stevens' interpretation of Saturn's existence and most despicable deed casts a humanity on Saturn we don't often see. He's a "melancholy creature [with a] cannibal addiction." Through his self-awareness, we come to see Saturn's side of the story, that he is in fact a victim to fate. It's either kill or be killed; the song shows the regret of the god who doesn't control the fates. Although he acts in self interest, he takes no joy in it. The chorus, though, seems to be pointing trying to cast a distinction between the Greek and the Judeo-Christian God. Saturn begs his listeners to denounce him: "Tell me I'm evil. Tell me I'm not the face of love. . . . Tell me I'm not the face of God." How can something who has done something so evil be a god or even a representative of a god?
WHERE THERE'S HEALTH I BRING AFFLICTION. Matthew Arnold in his essay Culture and Anarchy: An Essay in Political and Social Criticism argued that Western culture was built on two pillars, Hellenism and Judaism. He called the Greek pillar "Sweetness and Light" and the Judeo-Christian pillar "Fire and Strength." He further argued that culture up until his time in Victorian England had over-emphasized the "fire and strength," but what culture needed to move forward was "sweetness and light." What followed was an artistic movement in the 20th and 21st centuries of more and more atheistic works. Yet artists from poets to screenplay writers can't shake the gods from their work. Furthermore, we see dysfunctional Greek gods playing out as humans constantly in every movie we watch. We see the Greeks gods in our own lives. Stevens had just written an album memorializing his extremely flawed mother, who abandoned him and abused him on many occasions when he was a child. Stevens is begging this parental figure not to be the representation of love or of God. Moreover, as an adult, he sees that choices are more nuanced. People make choices that they feel they are forced to make. For example, Stevens seems to come to a greater understanding about his mother's mental illness and drug addiction when he writes about Carrie on his previous album. In "Saturn" there's a sadness to the great responsibility it is to be a god, a representative of an ideal. The Bible, in contrasts, says that "God is Love." This God is different from Saturn, but many note some of the horrendous depictions of punishment he brings, particularly in the Old Testament. It's certainly no accident that Stevens draws the parallels between Saturn, the Judaeo-Christian God, and Shiva in "Saturn." The job is up to the listener to decide if it's a fair comparison.
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