 All of the songs on Illinois were written , recorded , engineered , and produced by Stevens , with most of the material being recorded at The <unk> Project studio in Astoria , Queens , and in Stevens ' Brooklyn apartment . As with his previous albums , Stevens recorded in various locations , with additional piano recorded in St. Paul 's Church in Brooklyn ; strings and vocals performed in collaborators ' apartments ; electronic organ recorded in the New Jerusalem Recreational Room in <unk> , New Jersey ; and <unk> played at Carroll Music Studios in New York City . Stevens mostly created the album without collaboration , focusing on the writing , performance , and technical creation of the album by himself : " I was pretty <unk> in the construction of Illinois . I spent a lot of time alone , a few months in isolation working on my own and in the studio . I let things germinate and <unk> independently , without thinking about an audience or a live show at all . " 
