Chicago is a tune by Sufjan Stevens, from his 2005 album, Illinois. Our cover version is on Audio Dropouts, Vol. 1, and our thoughts on the song are below:

Rich: "I've always loved this Sufjan Stevens tune and suggested it to the guys. It was awesome to hear the Daughters of Zen sing the chorus, and Steve did a nice mixing job blending the voices of the 5 girls. Pete should win an Oscar for his performance on the video. I laughed, I cried, I ate Junior Mints.

Pete: “I first heard this song at my daughter's summer arts camp in Nashville, when a young man did a killer version of it. So, when Rich suggested it, I was right on board. The Daughters of Zen really take the song to a new level, and we had a blast filming the accompanying music video. For the video, an essential task was finding a work van in Steve's neighborhood that we could film beside for that gritty added dimension, like we'd just pulled into a parking lot in New York. Many other fun scenes included the DOZ at the beach looking forlorn and contemplative. Steve's bass lines become essentially an extended solo that adds a whole 'nother element to the song.”

Steve: “This song was completely new to me when Rich suggested it. In fact, I'm pretty sure I still haven't listened to Sufjan Stevens' recording of it, and I certainly didn't prior to recording it.  I love the e-bow on this one, which is a signature Rich move, and I think Pete nailed the melancholy vibe of the song. (Of course, I have no idea whether the song should have a melancholy vibe - maybe Sufjan's version is an upbeat toe-tapper.  I'll have to check it out). My favorite memory of recording the song was the daughters reading the lyrics scribbled on the back of a pizza box while singing (you can see a glimpse of this in the music video).  Pete mentioned the video's ”van scene" shot in my neighborhood.  It was very funny trying the convince the spanish-only-speaking van owner, who was working on someone's house, that we were not a threat to him or his work. I suppose nowadays he could think we were ICE agents."

Watch the Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1n1RiYAqTs

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/7qhJ6OEC6flAYXq7ngYPKj?si=e10013f9e6e44d15

Listen on YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=2hv42hzjj2o

Listen on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/chicago/1669104401?i=1669104402

Purchase on Bandcamp: https://zenfusebox.bandcamp.com/track/chicago