Sufjan Stevens › Similar Artists

Andrew Bird - 52% match to Sufjan Stevens

11 July 1973, Chicago, Illinois, USA. A classically trained violinist, Bird studied music at Illinois’ Northwestern University, graduating in 1995. His early work was as a session musician for various acts in and around Chicago and he formed funk rock band Charlie Nobody, which was made up of Bird and fellow Northwestern University graduates. He was soon approached by C Read more

St. Vincent - 50% match to Sufjan Stevens

Joanna Newsom - 39% match to Sufjan Stevens

1982, Nevada City, California, USA. One of the more original performers to emerge from the independent music scene in the early years of the twenty-first century, Newsom launched a solo career while concurrently working with the bands Nervous Cop and the Pleased.Raised in Nevada City, California, Newsom’s training began at an early age with piano Read more

Fleet Foxes - 36% match to Sufjan Stevens

The seeds of Seattle, Washington’s Fleet Foxes were sown when high school friends Robin Pecknold (vocals, guitar) and Skyler Skjelset (guitar) started playing together, initially making making music that leaned toward a 1960s baroque-pop style. By 2006, heavily under the influence of the late-’60s/early-’70s singer/songwriter scene, Pecknold and Skelset moved in Read more

The Antlers - 34% match to Sufjan Stevens

My Brightest Diamond - 31% match to Sufjan Stevens

US indie rock band formed by classically trained musician Shara Worden (Michigan, USA). The former opera student relocated to New York City at the end of the 90s, where she continued her vocal studies and began to fall in love with the city’s alternative music scene. She formed the intriguing indie rock band Awry, which released two albums at the start of the 00s.

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Grizzly Bear - 30% match to Sufjan Stevens

Formed in 2004 in Brooklyn, New York City, by singer-songwriter Edward Droste, this US indie rock act originally started out as a one-man project. Droste created the basic tracks for the debut Grizzly Bear album in his bedroom studio, only bringing in multi-instrumentalist and electronics expert Christopher Bear towards the end of the recording sessions. Released later in 2004 Read more

Beirut - 28% match to Sufjan Stevens

After dropping out of full-time education in his late teens in Albuquerque, USA, Zach Condon (Zachary Francis Condon, 13 February 1986, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA; trumpet, ukulele, vocals) made several trips to Europe that inspired him to began work on Gulag Orkestar, a unique album that used Balkan rhythms and melodies to embellish a Magnetic Fields and Smiths -influenced Read more

Bon Iver - 24% match to Sufjan Stevens

Animal Collective - 23% match to Sufjan Stevens

Having adopted (for reasons they have been unwilling to explain) the curious names of Avey Tare and Panda Bear, high school friends David Portner (USA; vocals/guitar) and Noah Lennox (b. USA; vocals/drums) evoke the strange and the magical via a music that has traceable precedents in the rituals of shamanism, the textures/structures of minimal techno, and the gentle folk roc Read more

The Decemberists - 23% match to Sufjan Stevens

The Decemberists emerged in the early 00s, and earned much acclaim for their distinctive brand of sophisticated, folk-tinged indie pop. Formed in Portland, Oregon, USA, by singer-songwriter Colin Meloy (5 October 1974, Helena, Montana, USA), the band’s original line-up also featured Jenny Conlee (accordion/piano), Nate Query (bass), Ezra Holbrook (drums/vocals), and Chr Read more

The National - 21% match to Sufjan Stevens

Groups such as Wilco and the Jayhawks helped introduce roots rock to a new audience during the 90s, and in the process, paved the way for future similarly styled outfits such as the National. The five-piece band is comprised of two sets of brothers, Bryce and Aaron Dessner (guitar and bass, respectively) plus Scott and Bryan Devendorf (guitar and drums, respectively), who are j Read more

Neutral Milk Hotel - 20% match to Sufjan Stevens

The creation of singer-songwriter Jeff Mangum, Neutral Milk Hotel formed part of the loose knit Elephant 6 Recording Company collective of psych pop bands based in Athens, Georgia, USA. Mangum grew up in Ruston, Louisiana with fellow 60s enthusiasts Will Cullen Hart, Bill Doss and Robert Schneider, playing in various bands including Maggot and Cranberry Life Cycle. In 1990, Man Read more

Bright Eyes - 19% match to Sufjan Stevens

Bright Eyes is one of many projects instigated by indie singer-songwriter and guitarist Conor Oberst (Conor Mullen Oberst, 15 February 1980, Omaha, Nebraska, USA). His recordings explore a similar lo-fi territory to the work of Will Oldham and Bill Callahan’s Smog, although Oberst’s tremulous vocals and almost adolescent verbosity sometimes betray his relative yout Read more

Broken Social Scene - 19% match to Sufjan Stevens

The inception of Canadian band Broken Social Scene came out of the demise of a number of Toronto’s indie bands, notably By Divine Right and K.C. Accidental. The band was formed in 1999 when Kevin Drew (Canada) and Brendan Canning (b. Canada) began jamming in various basements and bedrooms around the Toronto area. During the winter of 2000/1, they completed the Broken So Read more