Watch: Sufjan Stevens – Pleasure Principle (WNYC Soundcheck Session)

Whoever thought that nice ol’ clean-cut, church-going, scout’s uniform-wearing Sufjan Stevens would get so raunchy? In ‘Pleasure Principle’, the name given to the latter segment of 25 minute-long The Age of Adz closer ‘Impossible Soul’, a razor-shaved, Rambo headband-donning Sufjan gets mighty sensual indeed.

With lyrics like “I got to tell you, girl, I want nothing less than pleasure” and “Boy, we made such a mess together”, he seems a completely different Sufjan to the man who in Illinois longed for the eroticism of holding hands and compared himself morally to the serial-killer John Wayne Gacy Jr.

It’s a beautiful performance, courtesy of WNYC’s Soundcheck programme, with swooning backing vocals from Cat Martino and Nedelle Torrisi and even instrumental accompaniment by The National‘s Bryce Dessner.