Immerse Yourself in the Cinematic Soundscapes of These 10 Albums

Music can be a funny thing; an art form that appeals to one sense, but can still do so much just through sound. In contrast to movies, music is heard but not seen, whereas film can obviously combine sound and image to dizzying effect. But, to highlight the way that less can sometimes be more, what happens when music outdoes certain movies by evoking a certain cinematic feel?

Enter the following albums, some of which are concept albums that intend to tell a story or explore a number of key themes, and some which are more just overflowing with sounds and ideas that may or may not conjure images in the heads of some listeners. When approached a certain way, the following highly evocative and cinematic albums put some movies to shame, as far as emotional impact, storytelling, and painting an overall atmosphere are concerned.

Singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens once had a proposed project that would’ve put any current-day cinematic universe to shame in scope, had it been fulfilled. Stevens called it the 50-states project, and it was purportedly to eventually entail 50 albums, one for each U.S. state. 2003 saw the release of Michigan, and then in 2005, there was Illinois, but that was it.

To his credit, Sufjan Stevens has remained incredibly prolific through releasing other albums (and he’s also been involved in some actual movies, penning songs for Call Me by Your Name, for example). For what it’s worth, it’s hard to imagine an album topping Illinois in both scope and imagination. It’s a sprawling 74-minute-long album (pretty much feature-length) that goes over various landmarks, notable figures, and events from the state’s history, with some more personal songs in there too, like the devastating “Casimir Pulaski Day.” Listening to it feels like experiencing various short films about Illinois retold as songs, and the resulting album is extremely immersive.

Released in the closing months of the 1980s, Hats is one of the most evocative and dense albums of the decade. Both it and the band behind it, The Blue Nile, aren’t exactly household names, but they kind of should be. Hats is the band’s best album, and it’s very easy to